Angola–Israel relations

History

The Israeli government aided the National Front for the Liberation of Angola in 1963 and 1969, during the Angolan War of Independence. In the 1960s, Holden Roberto, head of the NFLA, visited Israel and FNLA members were sent to Israel for training. In the 1970s, Israel shipped arms to the FNLA through Zaire. The Israeli embassy in Luanda was reopened in 1995, and Tamar Golan, who worked to maintain Israeli contacts with African countries throughout these decades, was appointed the Israeli ambassador. Tamar Golan left this post in 2002, but returned to Angola later on upon the request of the Angolan President José Eduardo dos Santos in order to help establish a taskforce, under the auspices of the UN, for the removal of landmines. The Israeli company "Geomine" provided Angola with mine detecting equipment, in order to facilitate their removal. President Dos Santos visited Israel in 2005. In March 2006, the trade volume between the two countries amounted to $400 million. The Israeli ambassador to Angola is Raphael Singer. In 2010, the Angolan government refused to receive openly gay Isi Yanouka as the new ambassador due to his sexuality.

In August 2012, the Angolan chancellor took a three-day visit to Jerusalem, where the governments of Angola and Israel ratified in Tel Aviv an agreement to strengthen the bonds between both countries. Israeli President Shimon Peres said that this should be based on the fields of science and technology, economy, and security, and the Angolan chancellor expressed the desire to continue with the bilateral cooperation in health, agriculture, science and technology, and the formation of Angolan experts.