Chad’s President Meets Israeli PM Ahead of Embassy Opening in Ramat Gan

Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno arrived in Israel Wednesday and met Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, ahead of the opening of a Chadian Embassy on Thursday morning in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv.

This is Déby’s first visit to Israel since taking office in 2021.

The renewal of full diplomatic relations between the two countries in January 2019 was marked by a ceremony in N’Djamena, Chad’s capital, attended by Netanyahu and then-President Idriss Déby Itno, the current president’s father. Déby the father was shot and killed in April 2021 while commanding forces fighting against rebels from the Front for Change and Concord in Chad.

“Israel and Chad established relations between our two countries with your late father. It is in our view a tremendously important relationship with a major country in the heart of Africa. It is something that we want to carry to new levels, new heights, and your visit here in Israel and the opening of the embassy is a reflection of that.,” Netanyahu told Déby.

“We believe that our cooperation can help not only advance our relations and our cooperation but it is also part of Israel’s coming back to Africa and Africa coming back to Israel. We have common goals of security, prosperity and stability. I look forward to discussing all these things with you for the betterment of our peoples and our countries,” he added.

An extended meeting is taking place with the participation of senior Israeli and Chadian officials, including, from the Israeli side, the strategic affairs minister, Mossad director, the prime minister’s chief of staff, the national security adviser, the prime minister’s military secretary, and the nonresident ambassador to Chad; and from the Chadian side, the foreign minister, defense minister, head of the Presidential Cabinet, and director of the Secret Services.