Africa-Israel summit called off

The president of Togo west African nation,  Faure Gnassingbé on Monday informed the Israeli prime minister that the Africa-Israel summit, which was due to take place on October 23- 27, was cancelled, mainly due to the current protests against his regime in the country, and pressure from Arab and Palestinian states.

The summit, which meant to strengthen commercial and diplomatic ties with Israel, was celebrated last week by Netanyahu as a “big breakthrough” at a Ministry of Foreign Affairs event, where he also spoke of Israel’s “return to Africa,” Haaretz said.

Emmanuel Nahshon, a Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman in  a statement said “In response to the request by the president of Togo and following consultations between him and the prime minister, it was decided to put off the Israel-Africa Summit to a future, agreed-upon date. The president stressed that the success of this important event requires significant and complicated preparations.”

Gnassingbé’s announcement was also partly due to pressure from the Palestinians, in addition representatives of South Africa and Arab countries, who have spoken out against Israel’s diplomatic efforts to widen its international support. To this end, they had voiced opposition to the Togo summit. South Africa had even threatened to boycott the event.

 It is worth mentioning that the Togolese nation currently is witnessing wide protests against the Gnassingbé family’s  third day of a 50 year dynasty.  Thousands of people have taken to the streets since Wednesday to demand that  Gnassingbe step aside, whose father passed in 2005.

Source: PNN