Representatives from Nigeria and Zambia, countries which voted against an anti-Hamas resolution at the UN arrived in Israel for a four-day seminar on improving agricultural production in Africa.
The Zambian and Nigerian representatives to the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA), joined together with representatives from Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Zambia and Burkina Faso for a seminar through the Volcani Center in Beit Dagan, Israel’s leading agricultural research organization, to explore new technologies regarding food production, increasing crop yields and food safety.
The meeting is a step toward the establishment of an Israeli-Africa Agriculture Innovation Centre, and another manifestation of closer ties between Israel and Africa. AGRA is an organization funded heavily by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation, and its main goal is to provide food security for Africa.
Last Thursday’s vote in the UN on a resolution condemning Hamas that fell nine votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to be adopted had mixed results in Africa.
Only seven of Africa’s 54 countries – Rwanda, South Sudan, Eritrea, Malawi, Liberia, Lesotho and Cabo Verde – voted with Israel and the US in support of the resolution, while 10 abstained and another 10 did not vote. The other 28 African states voted against the measure, including two countries that have representatives on the current trip: Zambia and Nigeria.
What is striking is that Nigeria, which voted against a measure that would condemn Hamas terrorism, is itself in a bloody battle against the Boko Haram terrorist organisation.
Ten of Africa’s countries are in the Arab League, which voted as one against condemning Hamas.
Eighty-seven countries voted for the anti-Hamas measure, while 57 voted against and 33 abstained. The necessity for a special two-thirds majority came about because a measure requiring such a special majority passed by a slim three-vote margin, 75-72.
