Two Muslim-majority African nations to send first-ever ambassadors to Israel

Senegal and Guinea, two Muslim-majority West African nations, will be sending their first-ever full-time ambassadors to Israel next week.

Ambs. Talla Fall of Senegal and Amara Camara of Guinea are scheduled to present their credentials to Israeli President Reuven Rivlin Aug. 8. The envoys will serve as non-resident ambassadors, with Fall operating out of Senegal’s embassy in Cairo and Camara operating from Paris.

In early June, Israel and Senegal announced the full restoration of diplomatic ties on the sidelines of the Economic Community of West African States conference in Liberia.

Diplomatic relations between the countries were frozen after Senegal co-sponsored last December’s United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334, which condemned Israel’s settlement policy and described eastern Jerusalem and its Jewish holy sites as “occupied Palestinian territory.” At the time, Israel recalled its ambassador to Senegal and suspended its aid programs with the African nation.

In August 2016, Dore Gold, the former director of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, visited Guinea in a bid to restore diplomatic ties. Guinea had broken off relations with Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel scored another diplomatic breakthrough earlier this week with the island nation of Cape Verde, which announced it would no longer vote against Israel at the U.N.

By: JNS.org