18
Friday, July 5, 1985
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Several hundred Israelis live and work
in Abidjan, the Ivory Coast capital, and
all were on hand for an elaborate Israeli
Independence Day celebration (below).
Continued from Page 15
stability and relative prosperity, the coun-
try has been led since its independence
from France in 1960 by Felix Houphouet-
Boigny, 79, who likes to be called "the old
man."
A moderate, pro-Western statesman, he
is expected_ to run for a sixth five-year
term and faces no opposition — other than
old age. Houphouet-Boigny has been in
failing health for some time now and his
unwillingness to groom a successor has
caused some to worry that a destabilizing
political change may be close at hand.
Houphouet-Boigny has hinted at an-
nouncing renewed diplomatic ties with
Israel on a number of occasions, most
recently last month, but for now Israel is
pleased with productive, though unofficial,
relations based on economic and military
interests. One of Houphouet-Boigny's con-
cerns about resuming full diplomatic ties
with Israel is the response of Ivory Coast's
Muslims, who make up 40 percent of the
country's population.
There is a strong Israeli presence in the
Ivory Coast where Sonitra, a local division
of Israel's largest construction company,
Solel Boneh, has built most of the coun-
In West Africa one finds
native dress as well
as Western garb.
Downtown Abidjan is a modern
attractive city, in contrast to Liberia's
capital, Monrovia.
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try's major roads as well as industrial com-
plexes, hotels and the presidential palace
in Abidjan, the capital.
Sonitra is currently completing one of its
most ambitious projects, the largest
Catholic cathedral in the world outside of
the Vatican. The structure, towering over
the modern Abidjan skyline, is scheduled
to be consecrated by Pope John Paul II
upon its completion in August.
Several hundred Israelis live in Abidjan,
almost all of them employees of Sonitra,
which operates a Hebrew-speaking school
for about 80 Israeli children.
There are only a handful of Israelis in
the Cameroon, farther east and south of
Ivory Coast, but its relations with Israel
are pivotal in Africa. "Cameroon is critical
for us," an Israeli official noted, adding a
bit cryptically, "we do important things
there, military and otherwise."It is known
that Israel has a flourishing economic rela-
tionship with Cameroon, as well as offer-
ing expertise in areas of agriculture, water
problems and de-forestation. But officials
in Yaounde, the lush and hilly capital, were
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