Pictured Above: Jorge Carlos Fonseca, president of Cape Verde, addresses the general debate of the United Nations General Assembly in September 2012. Credit: U.N. Photo/J Carrier.

(JNS.org) A week after reports stated that Cape Verde would no longer vote against Israel at the United Nations, the African nation has denied that development.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week credited the alleged diplomatic victory to a meeting with Cape Verde’s President Jorge Carlos Fonseca on the sidelines of the Economic Community of West African States conference in Liberia in June.

Cape Verde acknowledged Tuesday its desire to strengthen diplomatic relations with Israel, but stated its warming ties with the Jewish state do not necessarily denote a change in the African country’s voting patterns at the U.N. and other international organizations.  

Cape Verde also clarified that its constitution does not grant the president full control to determine foreign policy, and that the prime minister is the head of government.

“The Presidency of the republic regrets the way the news was delivered, based on a tweet published by the prime minister of Israel,” Fonseca wrote on his official Facebook page.

While Cape Verde has generally voted against Israel at the U.N., it has abstained or been absent from some major anti-Israel votes, including the 2009 U.N. Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict (also known as the Goldstone Report) and the 2011 UNESCO vote to accept the Palestinians as a member state.

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