Tel Aviv, Feb 2, (dpa/GNA) – Chad affirmed its cordial relations with Israel, in opening an embassy in Tel Aviv on Thursday in the presence of Chad’s President, Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno, and Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
“This is an historic moment,” Netanyahu said in remarks reported by his office.
The opening of the embassy had been preceded by years of diplomatic work, during which Netanyahu visited the Sahel country, a majority of whose population is Muslim.
“We are strengthening our partnership in the areas of security, for peace and prosperity. The new embassy will strengthen our relations even more,” Netanyahu said.
Israel and Chad resumed diplomatic ties in 2019, after a gap of almost half a century, with media reports saying this paved the way for rapprochement between Israel and other Arab countries in Africa.
Since the death of his father, long-term ruler Idriss Déby Itno in April 2021, Déby has been at the head of a transitional government in the oil-rich but impoverished country, of around 17 million inhabitants.
There have been regular protests against the transitional military government, which has repeatedly postponed forming a new government in the country, which borders Libya, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Sudan.
Despite a fragile political situation, Chad is seen as an important ally of the West in combating Islamist terrorism in the region.
GNA