By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Days after the visit of Iranian President, Ebrahim Raisi to three African countries, the Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, on Sunday met with a number of African officials in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi during his official trip to attend a biannual coordination meeting of the African Union (AU).
Cohen’s visit was also intended to boost ties with Africa amid “the Iranian attempt to expand its activities on the continent,” according to his office.
Cohen met with the leader of an unnamed African country that does not have diplomatic relations with Israel, on the sidelines of the midyear summit, Hebrew-language media Ynet, reported on Monday.
The meeting took place on the condition that the official and the country would not be named, the report says.
The Foreign Ministry told Ynet that Israel was engaged in “normalization contacts with several African countries including Niger, Mali and Mauritania.”
At the summit, Cohen met with Kenyan Foreign Minister Alfred Mutua and other unnamed African diplomats and officials, his office said.
In a press statement, Cohen thanked Kenyan President William Ruto and Mutua “for their efforts to promote Israel’s position on the continent and to open doors for the State of Israel in countries on the continent with which we do not yet have diplomatic relations.”
In the bilateral meetings with his Kenyan counterpart and other African officials, “the ministers discussed strengthening the ties between Israel and Kenya and the African continent and expanding the circle of peace with other African countries,” Cohen’s office said.
The foreign minister also said his diplomatic visit to Nairobi was “of regional and strategic importance against the background of Iran’s attempts to expand its influence on the continent.”
“Kenya’s regional position makes it a key partner of Israel in the East African region. Kenya’s membership on the board of the [UN’s] International Atomic Energy Agency allows it to influence the international supervision of Iranian violations” of its nuclear agreements.
Last week, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi embarked on a rare, multi-day tour in Africa where he visited Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe, in the latest diplomatic efforts to reduce its isolation by forging new alliances.
In his statement Monday, Cohen said Israel would “continue to strengthen economic ties with Kenya in the fields of agriculture, tourism and cyber[security].”
His office said Israel and Kenya have strengthened their economic ties in recent months “and that cooperation in the field of cyber defense and the expansion of charter flights between Israel and Kenya during the tourist season were on the agenda” during the trip.
