by Shlomo Cesana, Israel Hayom Staff and AP
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flies to Uganda, the first stop of a four-day trip that will also include visits to Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia • "All Africa is excited by this visit and I am very excited as well," Netanyahu says.
A statue of Yoni Netanyahu
is seen at Aero beach, south of Uganda's capital Kampala, Sunday
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Photo credit: Reuters  |
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu flew to
Uganda on Monday, the first stop of a four-day trip that will also
include visits to Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia.
Prior to his departure from Ben-Gurion
International Airport on Monday, Netanyahu said, "I am now leaving on an
historic visit to Africa. This visit will begin with a summit meeting
with leaders from seven African countries who are coming especially to
Entebbe, Uganda, for this meeting, to welcome a prime minister of Israel
for the first time in decades on African soil.
"Coming on a journey like this is also very
important from diplomatic, economic and security perspectives and I am
pleased that Israel is going back to Africa in a big way. We are opening
Africa to Israel again. This visit will also include a moving meeting
at Entebbe, where the great rescue operation was carried out. Also
attending will be soldiers who participated in the operation as well as
some of those who were rescued.
"All Africa is excited by this visit and I am very excited as well."
On Monday afternoon, Netanyahu was set to take
part in a ceremony at Entebbe International Airport marking the 40th
anniversary of the famous July 1976 hostage rescue operation carried out
at the airport by the Israel Defense Forces. The prime minister's older
brother, Yoni Netanyahu, was the commander of the elite Sayeret Matkal
special forces unit that carried out the rescue, and was the sole IDF
fatality in the operation.
Netanyahu is being accompanied on his Africa trip by a delegation of around 80 businesspeople from over 50 companies.
Ramzi Gabai, the chairman of the Israel Export
Institute, said, "There is great potential for Israeli exports to
Africa and this potential is far from being fulfilled."
Israeli officials are hoping that Netanyahu's
visit -- the first by an Israeli prime minister to sub-Saharan Africa in
three decades -- will usher in a new era in which Israel provides
African states with security and agricultural assistance in return for
support in international forums.
The prime minister's visit caps a budding
rapprochement in recent years initiated by Defense Minister Avigdor
Lieberman, who, as foreign minister a few years ago, toured the
continent on two occasions, after no Israeli foreign minister had
visited in two decades.
In turn, dozens of African dignitaries have
visited Israel in recent years, including Kenyan President Uhuru
Kenyatta and Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf.
Israel played a prominent role in assisting
newly independent African countries in the 1960s, but those relations
crumbled in the 1970s, when Arab countries, promising aid, pressured
African nations to limit or cut ties with Israel.
With the recent rise of jihadism across the
continent, from Boko Haram in Nigeria to al-Qaida-linked al-Shabab
militants in Somalia, Israel has found common ground with countries like
Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria.
While Israeli military exports to Africa are limited, Israel provides several countries with security training and assistance.
Israeli defense officials say intelligence
sharing is limited to a few close allies for now. Israel has military
ties with several African countries, and Israel's Defense Ministry has
given clearance for private Israeli security firms to operate in some
nations, including some arms sales.
In exchange for its expertise in security and other fields, Israel wants African states to side with it at the U.N.
"We're talking about some 45 countries in
sub-Saharan Africa who vote in one bloc at the U.N.," said Arye Oded, a
former Israeli diplomat and expert on Africa. "Netanyahu wants to
improve relations with these countries ... and wants more countries to
not vote against us at the U.N."
Yoram Elron, the head of the Israeli Foreign
Ministry's Africa division, said an increasing number of African
countries "understand that Israel is being singled out in international
forums."
Shlomo Cesana, Israel Hayom Staff and AP
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=34751
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