William Christou
The Guardian / December 27, 2025
Diplomatic breakthrough criticised by African Union, which said it could have ‘far-reaching implications for peace and stability across the continent’.
Beirut – Israel has become the first country to recognise Somaliland as a sovereign state, a breakthrough in its quest for international recognition since it declared independence from Somalia 34 years ago.
The Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar, announced on Friday that Israel and Somaliland had signed an agreement establishing full diplomatic relations, which would include the opening of embassies and the appointment of ambassadors.
The recognition is a historic moment for Somaliland, which declared its independence from Somalia in 1991 but until now had failed to be recognised by any UN member states. Somaliland controls the north-west tip of Somalia, where it operates a de facto state, and is bordered by Djibouti to the north-west and Ethiopia to the west and south.
The Israeli prime minister’s office said the declaration was “in the spirit” of the Abraham accords, a series of normalisation agreements between Israel and mostly Arab states signed in 2020.
It posted a video of Benjamin Netanyahu speaking via video call with Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, in which he invited him to visit Israel and described the friendship between the two countries as “historic”. Abdullahi said he would be “glad to be in Jerusalem as soon as possible”.
Donald Trump said he opposed US recognition of Somaliland in an interview with the New York Post published on Friday, adding: “Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?”
The US administration is reportedly split over the recognition of Somaliland, with some fearing such a move could endanger military cooperation with Somalia. The US has troops deployed there, where it supports Somali forces in their fight against the Islamist movement al-Shabaab.
Somalia’s foreign ministry said in statement the decision was a “deliberate attack” on its sovereignty that would undermine peace in the region, a sentiment echoed by the African Union (AU).
The AU said it “firmly rejects” Israel’s move, warning: “Any attempt to undermine the unity, sovereignty, and territorial integrity of Somalia … risks setting a dangerous precedent with far-reaching implications for peace and stability across the continent.”
The pan-African body’s head, Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, said Somaliland “remains an integral part of the Federal Republic of Somalia”, which is a member of the AU.
Israel’s move was also condemned by Egypt and Turkey, which said in a statement: “This initiative by Israel, which aligns with its expansionist policy and its efforts to do everything to prevent the recognition of a Palestinian state, constitutes overt interference in Somalia’s domestic affairs.”
Sa’ar said the recognition came after a year of talks between the two countries and that he had instructed Israel’s ministry of foreign affairs to immediately “institutionalise ties between the two countries”.
Israeli analysts have said recognition of the breakaway state could be in Israel’s strategic interest, given Somaliland’s proximity to Yemen, where Israel has conducted extensive airstrikes against the Houthi rebels over the past two years.
A report in November by the Institute for National Security Studies, an Israeli thinktank, said: “Somaliland’s territory could serve as a forward base for multiple missions: intelligence monitoring of the Houthis and their armament efforts; logistical support for Yemen’s legitimate government in its war against them; and a platform for direct operations against the Houthis.”
The Somaliland authorities already host a military base operated by the United Arab Emirates in Berbera, which has a military port and an airstrip for fighter jets and transport aircraft. Analysts have suggested that the base is a key part of the UAE’s anti-Houthi campaign in Yemen.
Somaliland’s president revealed in May that US military officials, including the most senior officer in the Horn of Africa, had visited Somaliland and that another US delegation was expected to visit soon. “It’s a matter of time. Not if, but when and who will lead the recognition of Somaliland,” Abdullahi told the Guardian.
Project 2025, which was published in 2023 and is alleged to have guided much of the doctrine of Donald Trump’s second administration, called for the recognition of Somaliland as a “hedge against the US’s deteriorating position in Djibouti”, where Chinese influence is growing.
This August, the Texas Republican senator Ted Cruz wrote to Trump asking him to recognise Somaliland. Cruz said Somaliland was an ally of Israel and that it had expressed support for the Abraham accords.
Somaliland has a population of a little more than 6.2 million. The breakaway state has a democratic system that has had peaceful transfers of power, though the Washington-based non-profit organisation Freedom House noted an “erosion of political rights and civic space” in recent years, with journalists and opposition figures facing repression from authorities.
William Christou is a Beirut-based journalist
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Trump says not ready to follow Israel recognizing Somaliland: Report
Middle East Monitor / December 27, 2025
US President Donald Trump said Friday he did not intend to immediately follow Israel in recognizing Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland as an independent country, Anadolu reports.
“Everything is under study … We’ll study it. I study a lot of things and always make great decisions and they turn out to be correct,” Trump told the New York Post in a phone interview.
“Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?” he asked.
On Somaliland’s proposal to provide the US with access to a port on the strategically significant Gulf of Aden, Trump responded dismissively, saying: “Big deal.”
Israel on Friday became the first country to formally recognize Somaliland’s separation from Somalia, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would convey the development to Trump during a planned meeting scheduled for Monday.
Speaking during a video call with Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi to mark the diplomatic move, Netanyahu said he would inform Trump of Somaliland’s interest in joining the Abraham Accords.
Trump underlined that he was not swayed by the proposal and that the upcoming talks with Netanyahu would prioritize issues related to the Gaza Strip, particularly the ceasefire he brokered in October and ongoing reconstruction efforts under a UN-approved framework.
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Somaliland president says recognition of state ‘on the horizon’ following Trump talks
Mark Townsend
The Guardian / May 30, 2025
The breakaway territory’s independence has never been internationally recognised. Insiders say recent US overtures are encouraging – but the consequences could be inflammatory in the tinderbox region.
Hargeisa – The new president of Somaliland says his state, which broke away from Somalia in 1991, is on the brink of securing international recognition – a development that would inflame tensions in the already tumultuous Horn of Africa.
In an interview in the presidential palace in the capital, Hargeisa, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi tells The Guardian it is “likely” that Somaliland will finally win acceptance of its right to self-determination, which has eluded the territory since it declared independence from Somalia 34 years ago.
“Recognition is on the horizon,” says the 69-year-old.
Such a move would infuriate Somalia, which would view it as an attack on its sovereignty, unsettle regional powers in the strategic peninsula and fan broader concern that it sets a precedent for secessionist movements across the African continent.
Despite its relative stability and regular democratic elections, Somaliland, a territory of about five million people, has yet to be recognised as independent by a single nation.
“It’s a matter of time. Not if, but when and who will lead the recognition of Somaliland,” says Abdullahi.
That goal, say Somaliland sources, has never been closer amid signs that the US president, Donald Trump, could be the first leader to recognise the self-declared republic in return for building a military base near the port of Berbera, a strategic location on the Gulf of Aden.
We are a partner in security … a partner in counter-terrorism … a partner in safe marine routes for world trade – President Abdullahi
Abdullahi revealed that US military officials, including the Horn of Africa’s most senior officer, have recently visited Hargeisa. Another Washington delegation is expected to “evaluate the asset [Berbera]”.
A key US military base, Camp Lemonnier, is located in neighbouring Djibouti but concern is growing over Chinese influence there as Beijing continues to strengthen its ties with Africa.
Project 2025, the alleged blueprint for the second Trump presidency, proposes the recognition of Somaliland as a “hedge against the US’s deteriorating position in Djibouti”.
In April, US aircraft carriers off the coast of Somaliland played a part in US bombing raids on Yemen, responding to Houthi rebels’ disruption of Red Sea shipping lanes.
The US has yet to announce any formal arrangement with Somaliland, but Abdullahi said they were embedded in attempts to safeguard global maritime trade.
“We are a partner in security. We are a partner in counter-terrorism. We are a partner in safe marine routes for world trade,” says Abdullahi, who was sworn in as president five months ago. In that time, he says, the US ambassador to Somalia has visited him three times.
The Trump administration is split over its approach to Somalia, which still considers Somaliland part of its territory.
Recent gains by al-Shabaab Islamist militants have raised questions in the Trump administration over the worth of US counter-terrorism operations in Somalia. The withdrawal of US personnel and the closure of the US embassy in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, has been mooted..
Sources indicate that elements of the Trump team want to drop the US’s longstanding “one Somalia” policy. Ditching support for Somalia’s weak central government would pave the way to officially recognise Somaliland.
“The US and maybe other international partners will [soon] have to recalculate their policies regarding Somalia,” says Abdullahi.
The former defence secretary, Gavin Williamson, a prominent advocate for recognition of the ex-British protectorate, believes a recalculation is very much under way.
Williamson, speaking to the Guardian earlier this month, said US officials had assured him that recognition for Somaliland would happen.
“I was talking to a few people this week and the thing I was getting from them is that it [recognition] is getting there. They’ve already started shifting away from the one Somalia policy.”
Williamson, like Abdullahi, believes recognition will happen by 2028 at the latest. He adds: “Before President Trump’s term ends, the US will have recognised Somaliland. My hope is that within a year we will have the first country within the United Nations to have recognised Somaliland.”
Bashe Omar, former representative of Somaliland to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), says US officials he met recently in Abu Dhabi were “frustrated” at the one-Somalia policy.
“What we are hearing, behind the scenes, is encouraging us. The US is moving in the right direction.”
Also waiting in the wings is the UAE, one of Trump’s closer allies, which has invested more than $442m to modernise Berbera’s port and a highway linking it to Ethiopia, a landlocked country that desperately wants maritime access.
Ethiopia’s desire for access to the sea remains a key geopolitical theme of the region, prompting a bitter diplomatic dispute last year after the signing of a deal with Somaliland to build a port.
The deal was reportedly made on the condition that Addis Ababa would recognise Somaliland.
The development enraged Somalia, prompting fears of a wider regional conflict with Egypt backing Somalia largely over its anger with Ethiopia for building a dam on the Nile.
Officially, the US state department continues to assert that it “recognises the sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Somalia. A statement added that it was “not in discussions” with Somaliland to recognise it as a state.
Another factor remains, however farfetched it might seem, that could yet prove significant: the proposed resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza to the African breakaway state.
Palestinians have been moving here for a long time, since 2004, 2005. Somaliland welcomes all refugees – Aidrous Osman Hussain, Somaliland refugee department
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, recently suggested that operations in Gaza would not end until the forced displacement of all its Palestinians had taken place.
Trump has talked of the US relocating Gaza’s population to allow the strip to be remodelled into the “Riviera of the Middle East”.
Aidrous Osman Hussain, deputy director of Somaliland’s refugee department, says Palestinians have considered Somaliland a destination since the second intifada.
“Palestinians have been moving here for a long time, since 2004, 2005. Somaliland welcomes all refugees.”
Currently there are 12 Palestinian families, but officials say they are happy for the numbers to grow.
“The people of Somaliland, the community of Hargeisa, wants to help refugees,” says Hussain.
Almost 23,000 refugees of different nationalities have moved to Somaliland with 2,875 arriving last year. More than 300 Sudanese families have arrived there since its brutal civil war began and Somaliland’s population of Syrians, who left during the civil war, numbers about 2,000 people.
One Syrian family, who fled fierce fighting Damascus in 2023, describes Hargeisa as perfect for Muslims; Syrian restaurants, supermarkets and dentists are dotted throughout the capital.
As he verified his family’s paperwork at the refugee processing facility in the Sha’ab area of Hargeisa, Hassan says: “Somalilanders are Muslim; here it is safe for us and our family.”
Hassan, who did not want to share his surname, adds: “The most important thing that mattered to me was security. Here, it’s a very open community and we integrate well.”
Yet to help further, Somaliland needs international recognition to access more help from the wider community.
Hussain adds: “If Somaliland gets recognition, we can help share the burden; we can help more people.
Abdullahi, flanked by nodding advisers, says the US is yet to officially float the prospect of resettling people from Gaza.
“We are a hospitable people. They, the Palestinians, are our brothers. If they decide to come on their own, we don’t mind.
“But there is no discussion on that issue with the Palestinians or with any other country.”
Mark Townsend is a senior global development reporter at The Guardian
