Iran’s President is scheduled to begin his tour to five countries in Africa and South America on Sunday days after the Israeli president ended a tour aimed at rallying support against Tehran.

“Iranian President (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) will visit Brazil, Bolivia, Venezuela, Senegal and Gambia,” IRINN reported on Sunday.

“Ahmadinejad is slated to visit Gambia in the first leg of his five-day trip,” it added.

He will then visit Brazil on the second day. Bolivia, Venezuela and Senegal will be the next targets.

Ahmadinejad’s tour is aimed at boosting political and economic ties with the five African and South American countries.

Israeli President Shimon Peres’s week-long visit to Brazil and Argentina, the first trip to the countries after 40 and 20 years respectively, comes amid Iran’s amicable relationship with Latin American countries.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has thrown his weight behind Iran’s efforts to develop a nuclear program aimed at peaceful purposes in September’s UN gathering in New York.

Iran’s close ties with Latin America and particularly Brazil, the fifth largest country, has been a cause of major concern both for Israel and its staunch ally, the US.

A day after Iran’s ambassador to Brazil announced that Ahmadinejad and a large entourage of 110 representatives from 65 companies were to visit Brasilia early May 2009, US Secretary of State dubbed the development as “quite disturbing.”

Blaming US President Barack Obama’s predecessor for “Iran gains” in the region, the top US diplomat noted “I don’t think in today’s world, where it’s a multi-polar world, where we are competing for attention and relationships with the Russians, the Chinese, the Iranians, that it’s in our interest to turn our backs on our own hemisphere.”

The Israeli president’s visit to the two Latin American countries, home to the largest Jewish community in the region, also led to angry demonstrations against the trip.

Demonstrators denounced Tel Aviv’s deadly offensive against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip which killed more than 1400 people, a large number of them women and children.

In Argentina, protestors carried placards which read “Get out of Argentina, murderer Shimon Peres”, “Death to Zionist-fascist Israel, officer of American imperialism in the Middle East, murderers of the Palestinian people!”.

In Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Israeli President had been hailed as “Shimon Hitler”, during protests. Demonstrators carried placards showing Peres, sporting a short Hitlerian mustache standing next to an Israeli flag upon which a swastika had been drawn.

Brazil, which has stepped up its peacemaking role in the Middle East, is hosting Palestinian Authority’s Acting chief Mahmoud Abbas.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Thursday welcomed Mahmoud Abbas, who is on a two-day visit to Brazil, in the historic city of Salvador.

Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim anticipated that Lula might try to convince Abbas to stay at the helm of the PNA (Palestinian National Authority), despite his announcement that he will not compete in the upcoming January presidential election.

Brazil last week hosted Israel’s President Shimon Peres, who was on a four-day visit to the country, as hundreds of demonstrators labeling him “Shimon Hitler”, voiced strong disapproval of his visit to Sao Paulo.

Mahmoud Abbas launched a South American tour on Thursday beginning with Brazil, that will also to take him to Argentina and Chile. He also paid a short visit to Morocco on his way to Brazil.

Dozens of demonstrators voice strong disapproval of the Israeli President’s visit to Brazil and of Tel Aviv’s crimes against humanity during weeks-long military aggression on the Gaza Strip.

“War criminal, go home” the protesters shouted at Peres as he arrived in Sao Paulo, where he was due to speak at a conference of local industrialists. The protesters waved Lebanese as well as Palestinian flags and carried banners condemning Israel.

Some placards showed Peres beside the Israeli flag with a swastika drawn on it and the president drawn with a mustache similar to that of Adolf Hitler and captioned: “Shimon Hitler”. Other signs showed pictures of Palestinian children killed during ‘Operation Cast Lead’.

More than 1,500 people were killed during three weeks of Israeli land, sea and air assaults in the impoverished Palestinian coastal sliver. The offensive also inflicted $ 1.6 billion damage to the Gazan economy.

“We are here to protest against the Brazilian government’s hosting of the president of the state that occupies and murders children. We will come to every event where there is an Israeli representative and we will tell everyone that Israel is a state that ruthlessly kills innocent children. This is only the beginning,” one of the protesters said.

There are reports that Peres’ security would be reinforced during his visit to Argentina amid concerns of protests. Thousands of anti-Israel demonstrators are expected to demonstrate around the world’s eighth largest country, including sites where Peres is scheduled to appear.

It now seems that fears of anti-Israel protests during Peres’ visit to South America are being realized sooner than expected.