“This is an historic moment,” Netanyahu said in remarks reported by his office.

“We are strengthening our partnership in the areas of security, for peace and prosperity.

“The new embassy will strengthen our relations even more,” Netanyahu said.

In opening an embassy in the presence of Chad’s President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Chad affirmed its cordial relations with Israel.

The opening of the embassy had been preceded by years of diplomatic work, during which Netanyahu visited the Sahel country, a majority of whose population is Muslim.

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Israel and Chad resumed diplomatic ties in 2019 after a gap of almost half a century, with media reports saying this paved the way for rapprochement between Israel and other Arab countries in Africa.

Since the death of his father, long-term ruler Idriss Déby Itno in April 2021, Déby has been at the head of a transitional government in the oil-rich but impoverished country of around 17 million inhabitants.

There have been regular protests against the transitional military government, which has repeatedly postponed forming a new government in the country, which borders Libya, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, and Sudan.

In spite of a fragile political situation, Chad is seen as an important ally of the West in combating Islamist terrorism in the region.