…As Ukraine protests Russia’s attack, demands release of ships, crew***

Israel and Chad will resume their diplomatic relations, a “historic step’’ for the two nations which had severed ties for almost half a century, Israel’s Prime Minister  said on Tuesday said on Twitter.

Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to visit the Central African nation shortly to make the announcement together with Chadian President Idriss Deby, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

Diplomatic relations between Israel and Chad, a majority Muslim country, broke down in 1972.

The announcement comes after a meeting between Netanyahu and Deby in Jerusalem on Tuesday.

Deby had arrived on a surprise visit to Israel on Sunday, which Israel had called a “diplomatic breakthrough.’’

The leaders talked about the fight against terrorism, as well as increasing bilateral cooperation in agriculture, counter-terrorism, border defence, technology, solar energy, water and health, according to the statement.

Netanyahu has visited Africa three times since 2016 and strengthened Israel’s relations with several African countries, including Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda and Ethiopia.

Deby, who has been in power for almost three decades, rules Chad with an iron fist.

However the well-trained Chadian army’s efforts to help combat Islamist terrorist group Boko Haram in neighbouring Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon has made Chad an important ally of the West.

Chadian military sources told Reuters in Feb. 3, 2015 that their troops entered the Northern Nigerian town of Gambaru on the border with Cameroon that has been under the control of Nigeria’s Boko Haram Islamist insurgents for several months to curb the menace.

“Our troops entered Nigeria this morning. The combat is ongoing,’’ one of the sources at Chad’s army headquarters told Reuters.

Chad has deployed some 2,500 troops as part of a regional effort to take on the militant group that has waged a bloody insurgency to create an Islamist emirate in Northern Nigeria.

The Nigerian military has achieved successes fighting Boko Haram and chasing the insurgents away from previously occupied local government areas in the North East of the country.

The effort was however not without some casualties on the Nigerian military side.

President Muhammadu Buhari had said severally that his administration had decimated the terrorist group which had resorted to mainly targeted suicide attacks.

Chad cooperated in successful French-led efforts in 2013 to remove jihadist militants that had seized the Northern half of Mali, and the country’s military helped free scores of Boko Haram hostages in August 2014.

In the meantime, the Ukrainian Ambassador to Nigeria, Dr Valerrii Aleksandruk, has condemned Russia’s armed attack and capturing of the Ukrainian navy ships “Berdyansk” Nikopol and the tug boat `Yana Kapu’

The ambassador, in a statement on Tuesday in Abuja, said Russian forces opened fire on a group of Ukraine ships in the Black Sea off the coast of the Crimean Peninsula late on Nov. 25.
The envoy also protested striking of two warships and wounding of two crew members before seizing the vessels along with a Ukrainian Navy tugboat.
He said that the attack on Ukrainian ships was carried out during a sea crossing from the port of Odessa to the port of Mariupol.

“The attack, in accordance with the provisions of all effective multilateral and bilateral international treaties and navigation rules, is nothing but another act of armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

“It is against Article 2 of the Charter of the United Nations and the provisions of UN General Assembly Resolution 29/3314 of 14 December 1974 on the definition of aggression.
“Russia has de facto expanded its military aggression against Ukraine to the sea.

“Kremlin’s criminal regime has today once again demonstrated that it won’t stop its aggressive policy and is ready for any acts of aggression against the Ukrainian state,” he said.

According to him, Ukraine also requested for urgent medical assistance to the wounded and to ensure their immediate safe return home.

“Ukraine also demands to return the captured navy ships and to compensate for the damage caused.
“It is Kremlin’s regime who bears full responsibility for further aggravation of the situation in the Azov and Black Seas and for undermining the peaceful settlement of the Russian-Ukrainian armed conflict.

“Ukraine urges its allies and partners to take all necessary measures to deter the aggressor, by applying new and strengthening existing sanctions.
“Ukraine also urges its allies to provide military assistance to protect its territorial integrity and sovereignty within the internationally recognised borders,” he said.