Plan Afoot to Move Togo Summit to Yerushalayim

A 20-state Africa-Israel summit scheduled in Togo but cancelled last month may be held in Yerushalayim instead, The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday.

Preliminary discussions are under way between Israeli and African diplomats to arrange the change in venue. If the summit is brought here in the next few months, the timing would be fortuitous, since it would coincide with Israel’s 70th year of independence, and 60 years since the establishment of Mashav — Israel’s agency for international development cooperation that has sponsored many projects on the African continent over the years.

A combination of factors were blamed for cancellation of the event, which was slated for Togo’s capital Lomé next Tuesday. Domestic unrest focused on setting term limits for the rule of Togolese President Faure Gnassingbé was one reason. (Gnassingbé has been in power for the last 12 years, succeeding his father who was president for 38 years.)

Togo also faced opposition to the summit from the Palestinians, Morocco and some other African states, a factor alluded to by Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the time of the cancellation.

The proposal to hold the summit in Israel harkens back to the original idea of having it here. Africa was chosen instead because it was thought to be a “more exciting” locale, according to senior Foreign Ministry officials.

“The problem is that if we choose another African country for the summit, you will always run the risk of instability, demonstrations or other political problems there as well,” the official said. “So we are going back to the original concept of holding it in Israel, and if that is successful, then perhaps holding the next one in Africa.”

A drawback of holding it in Israel, though, is that while it had been hoped that as many as 25 African leaders would go to the event in Togo, only perhaps 15 are expected to come to Israel.