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Senegal and Israel have mended diplomatic ties at the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summit in Monrovia, when the Israel Prime Minister became the first non-African leader to attend the regional meeting.
The two countries relations strained when the West African nation co-sponsored a U.N. Security Council resolution in December condemning Jewish settlement construction in 2016. Israel canceled its foreign aid programmes in Senegal and withdrew its resident ambassador from Dakar reports VOA.
Senegalese President Macky Sall and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a brief meeting on Sunday in Monrovia before announcing an end to the crisis.
Israel said that it will return it ambassador to Senegal, as Senegal is expected to support Israel’s nomination for observer status at the African Union.
The leaders also agreed to advance cooperation in defense and agriculture, according to the Times of Israel.
Benjamin Netanyahu called on the West African leaders to join forces with Israel and support its reinstatement into the African Union as an observer during his attendance of the 51st ECOWAS Summit in Liberia.
“The purpose of this trip is to dissolve this majority, this giant bloc of 54 African countries that is the basis of the automatic majority against Israel in the UN and international bodies,” Netanyahu told journalists Saturday evening ahead of the flight to West Africa.
נפגשתי עם נשיא סנגל וסיכמנו על סיום המשבר בין המדינות. ישראל תחזיר את השגריר לסנגל וסנגל תתמוך במועמדות ישראל כמשקיפה בארגון איחוד אפריקה pic.twitter.com/BubwpJo0ew
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) June 4, 2017
