Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday described his historic visit to Chad and renewal of diplomatic ties with the country after 47 years as "a breakthrough into the heart of the Muslim world in Africa."
"We renew the diplomatic relations between the countries!" Netanyahu posted on Twitter on Sunday during his trip.
"Israel is making inroads into the Islamic world. This is the result of considerable effort in recent years. We are making history and we are turning Israel into a rising global power," the prime minister said Sunday at a joint press conference with Chadian President Idriss Déby.
"We are continuing on, up the mountain, to new heights," he said from the capital city of N'Djamena, adding that recent attacks by the Islamist Boko Haram insurgency and a terrorist attack on a hotel in Nairobi, Kenya, last week showed the need to cooperate on security.
"The game is far from lost if we pull together," Netanyahu said. "We are happy to know that a Muslim-majority country is connected through diplomatic ties to Israel.
"We believe in the future of Chad and the future of Africa. This is my fourth visit to Africa. Many more Israeli companies will come to Africa, and in March a business delegation will come to Chad to examine opportunities – and I think there are many," he said.
Déby, who visited Jerusalem in November to discuss cooperation in agriculture, counter-terrorism, border protection and technology, echoed Netanyahu's call for closer cooperation.
"I note with satisfaction our shared view on the need to combine forces to tackle terrorism, which spares no country," Déby said on Sunday.
The two leaders said security had been a key topic of discussion during an earlier meeting, but gave no details. Last year a source told Reuters Israel had supplied Chad's army with weapons and equipment to help fight rebels.
Netanyahu has previously cited Chad's renewed relationship with his country as an example of how Israel could make diplomatic inroads in Africa and the Middle East despite its ongoing conflict with the Palestinians.
"Israel will help Chad in a number of areas," the prime minister said. "The most central of which is the fight against Islamist terror, and shared efforts between the countries to clear a million landmines from the Chad-Libya border. The landmines were laid along the border by the Libyans, and today serve the terrorist organization Boko Haram, which is turning them into bombs and using them in terrorist attacks.
During his visit in November, Déby also said his country, an Arab League member, could help Israel renew diplomatic ties with Sudan.
Déby noted that "the world is changing before our eyes. Crises and wars we knew are changing as well. We don't wish them on today's generation or future generations. There's a time for war and a time for peace. Our message is global to all leaders. Chad doesn't presume to speak for black Africa. Chad comes to renew bilateral diplomatic relations."
He said that "if Chad can be a facilitator, Chad will not hesitate."
