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Israel
Relations with African States
Until the early 1970s, Israel sent hundreds of agricultural experts
and technicians to aid in developing newly independent sub-Saharan
African states, seeking diplomatic relations in return. The Arab
countries, however, exerted pressure on such states to break ties
with Israel. Most African states eventually complied with this
pressure because of their need for Arab oil at concessionary prices
and because of Arab promises of financial aid. Furthermore, Israel
received heavy criticism from African nations because of its relations
with South Africa. Moreover, Israeli support for the Biafran secessionist
movement in Nigeria alarmed the members of the Organization of
African Unity, many of whom faced threatening national liberation
movements in their own countries. The June 1967 Israeli occupation
of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Sinai Peninsula stirred
a sense of unease among the African states; after the October
1973 War twenty-nine African states severed diplomatic relations
with Israel. Malawi, Lesotho, and Swaziland were the only sub-Saharan
countries to maintain diplomatic relations with Israel.
The African "embargo" of Israel began to collapse after the 1978
Camp David Accords and the establishment of diplomatic relations
between Egypt and Israel. Following Zaire's lead in 1982, Liberia
(1983), the Côte d'Ivoire (1986), Cameroon (1986), and Togo (1987)
renewed diplomatic ties with Israel. Kenya, Gabon, Senegal, and
Equatorial Guinea have also shown interest in renewing diplomatic
relations. Several other African countries, although maintaining
their diplomatic distance, nevertheless had unofficial ties with
Israel, as expressed by the presence of Israeli advisers and technicians.
Ghana had an Israeli "interests office," and Nigeria, Sierra Leone,
and the Central African Republic all maintained unofficial ties
with Israel.
Israeli military expertise and technical skills, particularly
in desert reclamation, have often facilitated ties with the sub-Saharan
nations. In Cameroon, Israel built a training center to assist
in halting the advance of the Sahara Desert, and in Côte d'Ivoire,
Israeli contractors undertook several major building projects.
Israel also trained the elite armed units protecting the presidents
of Cameroon, Liberia, Togo, and Zaire.
Israel has long had a special interest in Ethiopia, a partially
Christian country, because of the presence of Falashas (Ethiopian
Jews) in that country. Ethiopian-Israeli relations had been close
until the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie and the imposition
of a Marxist, pro-Soviet military regime in 1974. In 1978 Ethiopia
received military aid from Israel as well as from the Soviet Union,
Cuba, and Libya in its border war with Somalia. In 1984 and 1985,
it was reported that, in exchange for Israeli military aid to
Ethiopia in its battle against Muslim Eritrean secessionists supported
by Arab states, Israel organized an airlift of more than 10,000
Falashas from ethopia to Israel. In 1988 it was estimated that
between 10,000 and 15,000 Falashas still remained in Ethiopia.
Israel has also had a longstanding interest in South Africa because
of its approximately 110,000 Jews and 15,000 Israelis. Israeli
leaders justified trade with South Africa on the ground that it
offered protection for the South African Jewish community and
developed export markets for Israel's defense and commercial industries.
Excluding the arms trade, in 1986 Israel imported approximately
US$181.1 million worth of South African goods, consisting primarily
of coal; it exported products worth about US$58.8 million.
Israel has traditionally opposed international trade embargoes
as a result of its own vulnerability at the hands of the UN and
Third World-dominated bodies. In 1987, however, Israel took steps
to reduce its military ties with South Africa so as to bring its
policies in line with those of the United States and Western Europe,
which had imposed limited trade, diplomatic, and travel sanctions
on South Africa. In a speech to the Knesset on March 19, then
Minister of Foreign Affairs Peres formally presented the Israeli
cabinet's four-point plan to ban military sales contracts with
South Africa (Israel's arms trade with South Africa was reportedly
between US$400 and US$800 million a year); to condemn apartheid,
which Peres characterized as "a policy totally rejected by all
human beings;" to reduce cultural and tourist ties to a minimum;
and to appoint an official committee to draft a detailed list
of economic sanctions in line with those of the United States
and other Western nations. The cabinet also announced its decision
to establish an educational foundation for South African blacks
and people of mixed race in Israel.
Data as of December 1988
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