Bipartisan push to extend Abraham Accords to more African countries, deter US adversaries
A group of Republican and Democrat congressional lawmakers sent a letter to the State Department urging the Biden administration to expand the Abraham Accords in Africa to counter the influence of American adversaries.
Fox News Digital obtained the bipartisan congressional letter, which said, “We believe it is in our national security interests as well as in the interests of stability for the Biden administration to strengthen and expand agreements and further promote normalization with Israel. On the African continent.”
The Trump administration negotiated the Abraham Accords, the first to be signed in 2020, that would secure diplomatic ties between four Muslim-majority countries with Israel. Those countries include the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan.
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“We believe this broader engagement framework is critical to U.S. efforts to counter efforts by China and Russia to undermine sovereignty and stability on the African continent,” the lawmakers wrote.
Letter to Expand the Abraham Accords into Africa
The letter’s signatories wrote, “We request a written response outlining the Department’s current and future efforts to [implement] a strategy that advances Israel’s normalization in Africa and increases treaty work there.”
Regarding the Abraham Accords, Representative Cory Mills from Florida, who signed the letter, expressed to Fox News Digital, “I haven’t seen any efforts from the Biden administration to further expand recognition of Israel, both diplomatically and in terms of trade. Israel is one of our strongest allies, and it seems like there haven’t been any attempts to strengthen that relationship.”
Mills, a decorated Army combat veteran who speaks Arabic, said in a video interview with Fox News Digital that the U.S. Adversaries – Iran, Russia, North Korea, and China – have warned of the impact on the African nation.
“Whenever we can help support allies in different countries, it certainly brings an element of stabilization to this … and makes us less dependent on adversarial relationships, whether it’s Russia, China, Iran, North Korea, etc.” The mills continued.
“We know that Africa will play a key role when it comes to China’s Belt and Road Initiative,” he said.
“It’s great to open up these continuing alliances that will also help strengthen Israel’s position in the Middle East,” continued Mills.
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U.S. to jumpstart diplomatic ties with Israel Some of the countries Mills hopes to reach are Algeria, Libya, Mali, Niger, Tunisia, Somalia, and others.
“We understand that some countries are very pushy against the ideas. But we want to at least open diplomatic channels and explain why it’s good from a trade perspective … but we’re trying to establish. A lawyer is being put out there on expansion on behalf of the Abraham Accords.”
Mills and his congressional colleagues wrote in the letter, “We request a written response outlining the Department’s current and future efforts to implement a strategy that advances Israel’s normalization in Africa and increases treaty work there.”
Mills said the State Department did not respond to the letter.
U.S. in Sudan (2007-2009) Alberto Fernandez, who served as charge d’affaires, told Fox News Digital that the bilateral letter was a “very important push” to change the dynamics in Africa because “there is a kind of anti-normalization alliance. There are countries in the African Union that do not want to see better relations with Israel.”
However, “the door is open” to expanding diplomatic ties between Israel and African countries, said Fernandez, who is vice president of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
Fernandez, who also served as the State Department’s coordinator for strategic counterterrorism communications, said the Biden administration “needs to strengthen the relationship of countries along the line of the Abraham Accords spectrum.” He notes that “the United Arab Emirates is very far along the spectrum,” but he also notes that Sudan is not that far.
Among North African countries that do not have diplomatic relations with Israel, Fernandez said, “Tunisia is pro-Palestinian” and “Algeria is pro-Iran.” He noted that “Iraq is still under the thumb of Iranian militias” in the Islamic heartland.
Egypt was the first Arab country to reach bilateral diplomatic relations with Israel in 1979. Jordan pursued diplomatic relations with the Jewish state in 1994.
Fernandez said the Biden administration’s current efforts to seal a new nuclear deal are a “slap in the face of the Abraham Accords,” adding that the White House wants to deal with “the biggest opponent of the Abraham Accords.”