Peres Arrives in Cameroon to Renew Ties

Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres arrived today in this West African nation to renew diplomatic ties broken off 13 years ago and take a new step in restoring Israel’s once strong links with black Africa.

It was the first time in 20 years that an Israeli prime minister in office has visited a black-ruled African nation, and Peres was welcomed at Yaounde airport by Cameroon President Paul Biya.

Peres’ special plane brought a group of Israeli doctors, nurses and medical and toxic gas fighting equipment in the first foreign aid to reach Cameroon after the natural-gas disaster in the northwest of the country.

The Information Ministry today said the seepage of hydrogen sulfide gas from a lake in a volcanic crater has killed at least 1,200 people.

Ties Broken in Early ‘70s

Cameroon will be the fourth black African state to renew diplomatic ties with Israel out of the 29 that broke off relations during the early 1970s, mainly under economic and political pressure from the Arab world.

Zaire was the first to renew diplomatic relations, in 1982, followed by Liberia in 1983 and Ivory Coast last year. Cameroon severed ties after the Yom Kippur War in 1973.

Israeli officials see the gradual redevelopment of old friendships in Africa as a sign that the Jewish state is breaking out of the diplomatic isolation of the last decade.

The renewal of ties with Cameroon, considered one of the most stable countries in the continent, is seen as particularly important in Israel’s diplomatic offensive.

‘Major Importance’

One Israeli official, speaking before the prime minister’s departure from Tel Aviv on condition of anonymity, said, “Peres attaches major importance to this trip.”