After 15 years of clandestine ties, Chadian President Idriss Déby arrived in Israel on Sunday for the first official visit by a leader of the central African country, which severed diplomatic ties with Israel in 1972.
The 66-year-old president was greeted at Ben-Gurion International Airport by Regional Cooperation Minister Tzachi Hanegbi and National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat. From the airport, Déby traveled to Jerusalem, where he attended a series of meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Reuven Rivlin.
On Monday, Déby visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum.
He said he was "grateful for the opportunity to visit such a place.
"Six million innocent people, including women, men, children and the elderly, were not only exterminated, but all trace of them was wiped out."
He said that "many emotions arise during the visit and raise the question: How could man be capable of doing something like this? What is the reason? What objective did they hope to achieve? A million and a half children! Children! Humanity in its entirety must remember what took place in those years. We must not forget what happened and we must tell the world: Never again!"
In a joint press conference following his first meeting with Netanyahu, Sunday, Déby said unofficial contacts between Israel and Chad have been ongoing for an extended period.
He said his visit to the "beautiful country reflects our intention of taking the same things that were in the background and giving them a push, because that is the desire of both sides. The desire is to enter a new era of cooperation. This journey will open new perspectives for collaboration, not only between Chad and Israel but between Israel and Africa."
Déby said his visit was "historic" for both countries and that it "could facilitate the turning of a new page in relations between us."
But he added that even with a renewal of ties, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict could not be ignored.
"The renewal of diplomatic ties … which is something I very much want, cannot eliminate the Palestinian issue," he said.
"I have often at the U.N. declared that my country is sympathetic to and yearns for a peace process between Israel and the Palestinians that should reflect the principles of the [1991] Madrid Conference, the Security Council, the Arab peace initiative and bilateral agreements between the sides."
Déby called for dialogue between the nations and a "joint struggle against the evil of terrorism. Humanity must rid itself of and recover from this thing."
Netanyahu called Chad "a very important country in Africa and very important to Israel."
He also addressed the global war on terror and noted the civil aspects of a potential collaboration between the two countries.
"Chad is a very important country. It's an important country in Africa. It's an important country for Israel," he said.
Netanyahu alluded to a future visit to Chad and other Muslim and African countries in the future.
"In the last two years, I've been in Africa three times – East Africa and West Africa," Netanyahu said.
"Now I'm going to drop a big hint, I hope to come to the center of Africa. And I wish to bring with me Israeli entrepreneurs, Israeli experts, Israeli companies, everything that can improve the life of the peoples of Africa, which is something we believe in. Israel is coming back to Africa. Africa is coming back to Israel."
He told Déby that "as a leader of an African country, an important African country, a majority of whose population is Muslim, you are coming to Israel to renew our friendship and our relationship. I think it is a testament of what is going to happen with other such countries in Africa as well, and I believe that you are paving the way for many others."
One source told Reuters the visit was focused on security, adding that Israel has supplied Chad's army with weapons and equipment this year to help fight rebels.
Neither Déby nor Netanyahu responded to reporters' questions as to whether he and Netanyahu discussed arms sales in their meeting, with Netanyahu saying, "We discussed what we discussed."
Déby has been in power since 1990 and has been an ally of the West in a fight against Islamist terrorists in West Africa. However, impoverished Chad itself faces destabilizing forces on multiple fronts, including jihadis with links to al-Qaida and Islamic State.
Déby is also trying to prevent an influx of militants fleeing the Libyan conflict, and in January closed Chad's border with its northern neighbor.
Beyond the direct benefits of such a public visit by the leader of a Muslim-majority country, diplomatic officials hope Israel's improved standing in Africa will also make it easier and faster to fly between Israel and Latin America, by allowing planes to cross over African airspace.
In a meeting with Déby at the President's Residence in Jerusalem, Rivlin said, "We are happy to renew ties with Chad after many years of disconnect. Chad is an important country, a country that is fighting terrorism and the State of Israel stands alongside it in this just struggle."
Déby thanked Rivlin and said, "We came out of a desire to renew diplomatic relations and your country is an important partner. Your country, just like our country, is fighting terrorism. Of course, your country is very developed from a scientific and technological standpoint, and we want to find the conditions for cooperation."
Since the mid-1990s, official Israeli delegations of the Foreign Ministry and other Israeli arms have visited the central African nation on an almost daily basis.
Déby, who has served as Chad's president for the past 28 years, had expressed his interest in visiting Israeli with Jerusalem officials on numerous occasions.
Netanyahu's government has been investing in outreach to Africa, where some countries previously warm to Israel have kept their distance since the 1967 Six-Day War. Israel has diplomatic ties with 32 of the continent's 54 countries.
In July 2016, Déby hosted then-Foreign Ministry Director General Dore Gold for exploratory talks on improving bilateral relations. Gold said on Israel Radio on Sunday that his Chadian hosts told him they had cut off ties in 1972 under Libyan pressure, a factor removed with the toppling of Moammar Gadhafi in 2011.
Wasel Abu Youssef, a senior Palestinian official, voiced displeasure over Déby's visit.
"All countries and institutions must boycott the extremist government of Israel and impose a siege on it because of its settlement activities, its occupation of Palestinian land," Youssef said.
