Guinea, Israel restore diplomatic ties after 49 years of severed relations

Guinea and Israel have announced the renewing of their diplomatic relations after almost five decades of severed ties.

Israeli Foreign Ministry Director General Dore Gold and the secretary of the Guinean president signed an official agreement establishing diplomatic ties on Wednesday evening in Paris.

“I am happy to announce that just now we signed… a joint declaration announcing the resumption of diplomatic relations between the Republic of Guinea and the state of Israel,” Israeli foreign ministry director Dore Gold said in a statement from Paris, where he met senior Guinean official Ibrahim Khalil Kaba.

The announcement followed close on the heels of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “historic” four-nation Africa trade and security tour aimed at boosting ties.

At the start of the July 4-7 trip, the first by an Israeli premier to sub-Saharan Africa for decades, Netanyahu proclaimed “Israel is coming back to Africa and Africa is coming back to Israel.”

Prior to his departure Israel announced a relatively modest $13 million aid package to strengthen economic ties and cooperation with African countries.

Guinea, a country with a Muslim majority, was the first African nation to severe its ties with Israel following the Six-Day War in 1967. Following Guinea, other African countries also cut ties with Israel and in 1973 additional countries severed relations as a result of pressure applied by Egypt and Libya.