Prime Minister Netanyahu (left) and Chad President Deby (right) . (Photo Courtesy of TV7 Israeli News).

Israel - Africa Relations 2023

In his true strength the transition and return of H.E. Benjamin Netanyahu to the helm of Israeli leadership is being felt in Israel Africa relations with two key highlights from the Chad and Sudan. Prime Minister Netanyahu is keen on restoring Israel diplomatic relations in Africa which suffered great retrogression in the 1970’s.

1. Chad opening Embassy in Jerusalem (2^nd February 2023)

The African nation of Chad which boarders Libya, Nigeria, Niger, Central African Republic and Cameroon inaugurated its embassy in Israel. Chad president Mehmet Deby and H.E Benjamin Netanyahu led the ceremony, in his words, H.E. Benjamin Netanyahu constantly reiterated that Israel is coming back to Africa and Africa is coming back to Israel.

His comeback to leadership in Israel as Prime Minister is now triggering a continuation of previous efforts to accomplish this mantra. Togo is a nation with a population of about 16 million and endowed with numerous resources including oil.

January 2019 was a unique year for diplomatic relations restoration between the two nations that had been severed since 1972. Chad is a Muslim majority nation and a strategic point for Israel relation in West Africa. In 2022, Israel’s non-resident ambassador to Chad, Ben Bourgel presented his credentials to current Chad president H.E. Mahamat Idriss Deby in the nation’s capital N’Djamena. He is resident in Dakar, Senegal serving several nations in the region.

2. Israel – Sudan finalizing normalization of ties

Sudan underwent great transition in 2019 at the ousting of Omar al Bashir after ruling the nation for 30 years. His tenure was marked with terrorism undertones from facilitating terror cells to habouring Osama Bin Laden a world renown terrorist. His tenure is also known for growth in Islamic radicalization having marshalled military advantage to overthrow the civilian government then and ascending to power in a bloodless coup.

The year 2019 marked the commencement of talks of Sudan’s normalization of ties with Israel structured into the objective of having the nation join the United States brokered Abraham Accords. Eli Cohen, Israeli Foreign Affairs minister visited Khartoum on 2^nd of February 2023, the capital city of Sudan which known for the historical Arab summit of 1967 where three no’s were agreed upon and which continue to influence current Israel Arab relations significantly.

Leading a delegation, Cohen met with Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, Sudan’s military leader discussing on ways to cooperate better in water, education, health among other critical areas according to Times of Israel. It is reported that the Sudanese government is keen on normalizing relations with the prospect of a signing ceremony in the United States in the near future thus incorporating Sudan into the Abraham Accords. This is impressive for a nation that has seen serious downtime due to conflict, coups and bad governance which has translated to on of Africa’s oil rich nation being economically, diplomatically and socially isolated.

A prayer item to pray is the transition that the nation is waiting for, the military has promised to hand over power to an elected civilian government. This will be a great catalyst in finalizing Sudan into the Abraham Accords.

God bless you for praying and standing in the gap.

Njeri. E. Yvonne. +254 777 265 100. njeriyvon@erezafrica.com