After nearly five decades, Israel on Wednesday renewed diplomatic relations with the Republic of Guinea, a small, overwhelmingly Muslim country in West Africa that cut ties with the Jewish state in 1967.
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“This is an important closing of a circle”, Gold said at the meeting, noting the decreasing number of African countries which haven’t yet re-established ties with Israel.
The news comes after Netanyahu’s four-nation Africa tour this month. “It is opening Israel up to Africa”, Netanyahu said in a statement.
During his historic trip to Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia – the first prime ministerial visit to sub-Saharan Africa in three decades – Netanyahu announced the intention of Tanzania to open its first-ever embassy in Tel Aviv.
Guinea broke off diplomatic relations with Israel following the Six-Day War in 1967.
It also says Guinea and Israel have had friendly relations even in the absence of diplomatic ties.
Despite the lack of official ties, Israel sent a medical team to Guinea to help during the Ebola crisis after pledging $10 million to a United Nations fund. Israel took part in the global effort to halt the recent Ebola virus outbreak, which hit the West African country hard.
“I am happy to announce that just now we signed. a joint declaration announcing the resumption of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Guinea and the state of Israel”, Israeli foreign ministry director Dore Gold said in a statement from Paris, where he met senior Guinean official Ibrahim Khalil Kaba.
Israel’s foreign ministry lists several Muslim or largely Muslim countries that have no current ties with it.
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