2 Muslim-Majority African Nations Send Ambassadors to Israel

Israel’s vigorous diplomatic activity in Africa is bearing more fruit, as Senegal and Guinea are appointing ambassadors to the Jewish state for the first time.

Two Muslim-majority African nations will send their first-ever ambassadors to Israel next week, as the Jewish state continues to bolster its ties on the continent.

Senegal and Guinea, both of which recently upgraded their diplomatic relationships with Israel, announced they are appointing ambassadors to the Jewish state for the first time, The Times of Israel reported.

Talla Fall, who represents Senegal and is based in Cairo, and Amara Camara, who represents Guinea and is based in Paris, will present their credentials to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin next Tuesday.

Senegal and Israel restored full diplomatic relations in June after falling out over Senegal’s sponsorship of United Nations Security Council resolution 2334, which ignored Israel’s claims to Jerusalem.

Israel and Guinea restored relations last July, nearly 50 years since Guinea broke ties over the Six-Day War in 1967.

In Israel’s Influence Spreads Across Africa, which was published in the February 2017 issue of The Tower Magazine, Seth Frantzman described Israel’s growing profile on the continent.

“On a trip to Senegal with Hirschson in the spring of 2016, I saw that up close. The Israeli embassy in Senegal is located in Dakar, a center of trade in West Africa. With its bustling downtown and epic 160-foot African Renaissance Monument, Dakar is a cultural hub. But it also has a tragic history of colonialism and slavery. For 300 years, slaves were exported from a small island off the coast called Goree. Visitors can see the dank cells where people were kept and the “door of no return” from which people were shipped to the New World. But from this tragic past has arisen a success story, a democracy in West Africa with a unique form of localized Islam and a colorful local culture,” Frantzman wrote.

“Agriculture is the anchor of what we are doing here,” says Hirschson. Doubling as Israel’s representative in Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone, and Cape Verde, Hirschson deals with projects throughout the region. For instance, Israel recently helped create the only dialysis center in Sierra Leone, and trained doctors and nurses in Israel.”

“In March, Hirschson and I drove out to see what Israel has accomplished. The road out of Dakar’s urban landscape quickly turns into African grassland. Towering iconic baobab trees, with their giant trunks and little tufts of foliage, dot the landscape. Roads are lined with people selling agricultural products and farmers work the fields beside men herding goats and cows. At a small village named Touba-Toul, an hour or so east of Dakar, a gate leads to a pretty field. Rows of green onions are starting to grow and they stretch into the distance. Men come and go as they work in the fields. The project, in partnership with an Italian aid agency and the Senegalese agriculture ministry, brings Israeli expertise in drip irrigation to this dry climate.”

By: The Tower