The World - News from June 15, 1987

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, starting a weeklong official visit to West Africa today, said it will be a political and economic mission aimed at strengthening Israel’s relations with black Africa. His first stop will be Togo, which only last week announced its decision to resume diplomatic ties with Israel, following the example of Zaire, Liberia, Cameroon and Ivory Coast. Liberia and Cameroon are also included in Shamir’s itinerary, as is possibly a fourth country, which his spokesman would not name. Another 24 African states have yet to restore relations severed during the 1973 Middle East War.