By John Ikani
Israel has condemned the expulsion of its senior diplomat from the African Union summit, describing the incident as “severe”.
The incident occurred when guards escorted the Israeli foreign ministry’s deputy director general for Africa, Sharon Bar-li, out of the assembly in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Video footage of the incident has been circulating on social media with Israel accusing Iran of orchestrating the move with help from Algeria and South Africa.
The Israeli foreign ministry described Bar-li as “an accredited observer with an entry tag,” a claim that an AU official has denied.
The incident has caused the Israeli foreign ministry to express its sadness that a small number of extremist states, such as Algeria and South Africa, which are controlled by Iran, could take hostage the African Union.
The Israeli ministry has called on African states to oppose such actions, which harm the African Union movement and the entire continent.
According to an AU official, the diplomat who was “asked to leave” had not been invited to attend the meeting, as a non-transferable invitation had only been issued to Israel’s ambassador to the African Union, Aleli Admasu. The official said, “It is regrettable that the individual in question would abuse such a courtesy.”
In 2021, Israel attained observer status at the AU after decades of diplomatic efforts, drawing protests from powerful members such as South Africa and Algeria, which argued that it flew in the face of AU statements supporting the Palestinians.
Last year, the Palestinians, who also have observer status at the body, urged the withdrawal of Israel’s observer status at the AU.
The dispute over Israel’s observer status at the AU began in 2021 when Moussa Faki Mahamat, head of the African Union Commission, accepted Israel’s accreditation, triggering a rare dispute within a body that values consensus.
The AU has not yet stated whether Israel’s status will be up for discussion at this year’s summit.
Israel had previously held observer status at the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), but was long thwarted in its attempts to regain it after the OAU was disbanded in 2002 and replaced by the AU.
