Roundup: Israeli PM's Africa visit points at strategic importance: experts

The historic visit to Africa by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this week reaffirms the continent's strategic economic, military and diplomatic importance to Israel, Kenyan experts told Xinhua on Friday.

The experts said Netanyahu's maiden visit to Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia was a culmination of intensive maneuvers by Israel to win over the heart and minds of African allies.

They said the Israeli PM's visit opened a new chapter in Israeli-African relations and could unleash huge benefits on both ends in the near future.

Professor David Kikaya, a Nairobi-based diplomacy scholar, was of the view that Israel's renewed interest in Africa is informed by the continent's strategic value.

"Historically, the East African region and Kenya in particular has been central to Israel's pursuit of its core interests and the recent visit by the country's Israeli Prime Minister only reaffirmed that fact," Kikaya told Xinhua in an interview in Nairobi.

Speaking ahead of his African tour, Netanyahu stated that Israel had not abandoned its friends in the continent despite a diplomatic spat occasioned by the Palestinian question.

The Israeli leader noted Africa's growing economic and diplomatic clout had strategic value to the country.

In particular, Netanyahu said that Israel counted on African allies to support its proposals on revitalizing the Middle East Peace process at the UN General Assembly.

"There is no denying Israel would like to have friends in Africa to support its national interests. The African Union, as a bloc, has 54 countries whose diplomatic clout would not be ignored by Israel," said Kikaya.

Netanyahu's African tour started in Uganda on July 4 where he attended the 40th anniversary since the successful rescue of a hijacked plane in Entebbe by Israeli commandos.

His brother died during the covert mission to rescue hostages from a commercial airline hijacked by terrorists.

During his meeting with east African leaders Kampala, Netanyahu pledged support to boost the fight against terrorism in the region.

Kikaya hailed strategic security cooperation between Israel and African countries, terming it a game changer in the war against violent extremism in the continent.

"Israel has wealth of experience in tackling the threat of terrorism. It has technology and intelligence gathering capabilities that we require to foil any future attack," Kikaya remarked.

Kenya and its eastern African neighbors also stand to gain from cutting edge agricultural technologies pioneered by Israel to address food security.

"We can adopt drip irrigation and other agricultural technologies from Israel to boost dry land farming and produce enough food for local consumption and exports," said Kikaya.

His sentiments were shared by Dr. Anita Kiamba, a diplomacy scholar at the University of Nairobi, who noted that trade relations between Africa and Israel will flourish after Netanyahu's visit.

"Africa provides a huge market for goods manufactured in Israel but we can also learn from the country's outstanding model of establishing a thriving start-up sector," Kiamba remarked.

She added that African countries stand to benefit from bilateral cooperation with Israel in education, health, waste water management and defense. Enditem