Sierra Leone will become the first African nation to open an embassy in Israel’s capital, Jerusalem, becoming the sixth nation to do so.
The announcement came in a statement from President Julius Maada Bio following a conversation Thursday with Israel’s Foreign Minister Eli Cohen.
“They discussed the warm relations between both countries that date back to 1961 when Sierra Leone gained independence. As part of efforts to strengthen the relationship between the two nations, His Excellency President Bio expressed his government’s readiness to establish an Embassy of Sierra Leone in Jerusalem, the capital of the State of Israel,” The statement said.
Currently, the US, Guatemala Honduras and Kosovo have embassies in Jerusalem, while Paraguay announced last week it would reopen its embassy there too.
“I was pleased to hear from the president of Sierra Leone of his intentions to open an embassy in Jerusalem,” Cohen said.
“We continue to put Jerusalem, our eternal capital, at the head of the diplomatic program of the State of Israel,” he said, adding that an unnamed nation from the Asia Pacific region would also open an embassy in Jerusalem in September.
Israel and Sierra Leone established diplomatic ties in 1961, but they were suspended in 1973 — along with several other African nations — following the Yom Kippur War.
This year, we want to do more to bless Israel and the Jewish people.
We know that as we bless Israel this year, God will bless us, just as He promised in Genesis 12:3, “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Now is the time to bless Israel and the Jewish people.
