28 January 2018•Update: 29 January 2018
By Addis Getachew and Seleshi Tessema
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas has called on the international community to refrain from opening diplomatic missions in Jerusalem.
Abbas made the call before scores of African leaders, who met in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on 30th Assembly of African Heads of State and Government.
“I call upon countries to refrain from opening any diplomatic representation in Jerusalem,” Abbas said in his trademark soft but powerful tone.
This came in reaction to the U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocation of Washington’s embassy from Tel Aviv to the contested city.
The U.S. move drew widespread condemnations from across the Arab, Africa and Muslim world and sparked angry protests across the Palestinian territories.
Abbas also urged nations in the world to refrain from recognizing Jerusalem as Israeli capital.
He hailed the African continent for consistent cooperation and solidarity with the Palestinian people in their cause and struggle to ensure their self-determination and their right to establish the state of Palestine.
Abbas also said the African Union and the Palestine administration have been cooperating in the fight against terrorism.
The two sides have also had a platform in which they cooperate in the exchange of expertise in the fields of agriculture and health, he added.
The Palestinian president saluted Nelson Mandela, the late liberation icon, on his 100th year of birth.
