Israeli delegation asked to leave African Union summit meeting

The Israeli delegation was asked to leave the hall where the meeting of the African Union summit was held in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, informs The Times of Israel with reference to the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the country Lior Hayat.

According to the publication, during the opening ceremony, members of the delegation, headed by Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister for Africa Sharon Bar-Lee, were approached by security officers and asked them to leave the hall. Diplomats had to leave the event.

Hayat stressed that Israel is serious about what happened, since Bar-Lee has the status of an accredited observer in the African Union. “It is sad to see that the African Union has been held hostage by a small number of extremist countries such as Algeria and South Africa, driven by hatred and controlled by Iran. We call on African countries to stand up against these actions, which are detrimental to the African Union itself and to the entire continent,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman added.

The African Union did not comment on the removal of the Israeli delegation from the hall. As The Times of Israel clarifies, the earlier granting of observer status to the Israeli side in the union caused controversy. In particular, in 2022, at the summit, the debate on this issue was suspended, and instead a special committee was created, which was supposed to make its recommendations at the current event.

Israel has not been able to restore observer status since 2002: the country was accredited to the Organization of African Unity, but after its dissolution and the creation of the African Union, it lost its status.

The African Union is an international intergovernmental organization, which includes 55 states of the countries of the continent.