Somaliland is a territory of over 3 million people located in the Horn of Africa, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden. It shares borders with Djibouti to the northwest, Ethiopia to the south and west, and Somalia to the east.
Its history dates back to the British Somaliland Protectorate, whose boundaries were defined in the late 1880s by treaties with France – who was controlling Djibouti – Ethiopia, and with Italy – in today’s Somalia.
The crucial date for Somaliland is June 26, 1960; the day it obtained independence as the state of Somaliland. A great achievement, which lasted only five days, until July, 1 1960. While short, this window allows Somaliland to state in its official website that it is the first East African country to become independent: in five days Somaliland was recognised by 35 countries, including all five all five permanent members of the UN Security Council. Israel was the first one of all of them.
From 1960 to December 26th, 2025, when Israel proceeded to be the first country to recognize the independence of Somaliland; the trilateral relations between Somalia, Somaliland and Israel make for an intricate story of alliances and aggressions which goes beyond national borders involving Ethiopia, Lebanon and the USA.
Somalia – Somaliland
On July 1, 1960 Somaliland and Somalia unified in the Somali Republic, aiming to build a “Greater Somalia” which would embrace all Somalis in the Horn of Africa.
This vision never became reality: just a year later, the two did not agree on the Act of Union passed by the National Assembly. This act established a unitary, centralised state, and not a federal system which was advocated for by Somaliland.
Then came Mohamed Siad Barre, who governed the Republic for two decades (1969-1991). His main goal? Pan-Somalism. His means? Military aggression. `
In this context, the Somali National Movement (SNM) was formed, by the largest clan of the North of the country, the Isaaq clan. The organization fought for federalism and opposed Barre’s dictatorship, who, in response, relied on the means available to him: military aggression. Between 1987 and 1989 an estimated 200,000 members of the Isaaq tribe were killed, about 90% of the main city of Somaliland, Hargeisa, was destroyed and more than 200 mass graves, most of which to be found in the Valley of Death, were filled. While a 2001 UN report reads “the crime of genocide was conceived, planned and perpetrated by the Somalia Government against the Isaaq people of northern Somalia”, the Isaaq genocide has widely been forgotten. Only exception is Israel: the one country to denounce what happened to the Isaaq clan.
In January 1991, opposition forces joined the SNM and advanced towards the capital city Mogadishu. It was the end of Mohamed Siad Barre time in power and the beginning of Somaliland’s second shot at independence. In May that year SNM leader declared Somaliland’s independence repeating the 1960 Act of Union.
From this moment onwards, although it did not succeed in receiving the international support and recognition it had gotten 30 years before, Somaliland managed to build parliamentary and political institutions (1993), hold elections and referendum on multiple occasions (nation-wide elections in 2002 and 2012; presidential elections in 2003, 2010 and 2017; parliamentary elections in 2005 and 2021) and draft a constitution mandating independence and multi-party democratic system (2001). In addition, it operates a judicial system and commands a uniformed army and police force.
All of this brings Somaliland to open its website’s homepage by stating: “Republic of Somaliland: the most democratic country in East Africa” and “34 years of peaceful democratic governance”.
Many countries, including the United Kingdom and the European Commission, tacitly recognise the state of Somaliland by, for instance, recognising its travel documents. However, none of them officially acknowledge the state existence or sovereignty. Africa Policy analyst Alexis Arieff defines these relations as characterized by political calculations:“recognizing Somaliland’s independence provides fewer benefits than clinging to the prospect of Somali unity while engaging in back-door cooperation with Hargeisa”.
Somalia – Israel
The Somali Republic that came into being in 1960 never recognised Israel, on the contrary it made it explicit from the beginning that it would not engage in any form of diplomatic or commercial ties with Israel. Shortly after, a Somali delegation affirmed from Iraq that Israel was Somalia’s second-greatest enemy, after Ethiopia. And here the history of the three countries gets intertwined.
For Israel, outreaching and building ties with African countries by providing trade and (military) aid was a strategy for obtaining an advantage in its conflict with the Arabs in the 1950s and 1960s: it also approached Somalia, who always rebuffed. As a predominantly Muslim country, 98.1% Sunni, Somalia then also joined the Arab League in 1974.
If Israel failed with Somalia, it very much succeeded in becoming closer to the neighbouring country Ethiopia. In the 1960s, Israeli police officials helped the Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie in countering the episodes of insurgence for the independence of the bordering region and the Somali Republic backing them.
Tensions in Ogaden grew and a war started between Somalia and Ethiopia (1977-1978). The Israeli Foreign minister at the time admitted that Israeli arms were being sold to Ethiopia to fight Somalia, in addition to cluster bombs and napalm. Menachem Begin, the Israeli prime minister, also sent a message to the USA president Jimmy Carter urging him to take action to assist Ethiopia against Somalia’s offensive.
The Ethiopia-Israel alliance continued.
After the collapse of Mohamed Siad Barre regime, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) took on governmental tasks in Somalia: managing the judiciary system, acting as police and providing services such as education and health care. With time passing, they became more and more authoritative, but on the other side numerous attempts were brought forward to create a functioning government in Somalia. The fourteenth of these attempts was called the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) who started leading the country in 2004. In 2006 the Islamic courts formed a rival government to compete with the TFG and for seven months they were de facto governing Somalia. In this short time period, the ICU was accused by the UN to have sent 700 militants to Lebanon to support Hezbollah during the 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon. Simultaneously, Ethiopia engaged in an invasion of Somalia and this time it was the ICU who accused the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, of giving security and logistical assistance to Ethiopia.
Replacing the TG was the Federal Government of Somalia, in power to this day. In 2016 the Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and three other Somali officials met Netanyahu and other Israeli officials in Tel Aviv. This moment passed down to history as the first high-level contact between the two countries, even if Netanyahu’s comment to the Israeli press was very vague: “I can merely say that we have lot of contacts with countries that we don’t have formal relations with. A lot of contacts.”
For the time being, these contacts can be summed up in two symbolic events. First, the Somali abstention for a UN Human Rights Council vote condemning Israel over the occupation of the Golan Heights in 2019, which is said to be the first instance in which an Arab state did not take the opportunity to condemn Israel in an international meeting. Secondly, the re-election of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud as President, who announced he wanted to transform Somalia into “a peaceful country that is at peace with the world.”
Somaliland – Israel
The first account of relations between Somaliland and Israel comes from a 1995 letter that the then President of Somaliland, Ibrahim Egal, addressed to Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, wanting to become an ally in countering Islamism in the Horn of Africa. Strategically, for Somaliland it was a move to hope to gain recognition by the USA.
Egal was succeeded by Dahir Rayale, who did not approach Israel in an attempt to balance relations with the Arab world, the countries from which it mainly imported livestock.
The first record of an Israeli official mentioning Somaliland recognition dates back to February 2010. Yigal Palmor, in the role of head of International Affairs of the Jewish Agency for Israel, building upon Egal’s letter, stated that “both Somaliland and Israel find themselves politically isolated in the midst of a hostile region and that Israel knows better how it feels to be denied your statehood and self-determination”. A month later, reiterating Israel’s readiness to recognise Somaliland, he explained his position: “My government firmly believes that owing to this region’s strategic geopolitical importance as a result of its propinquity to the oil routes and the narrow Bab El-Mandeb entrance, as well as its proximity to the Gulf, the Middle East and the access to the Indian Ocean”.
Leaving aside meetings between Somaliland’s and Israel’s government officials that were denied, we come to October 2024, when Middle East Monitor reported that Israel and Somaliland were having discussions on the construction of an Israel military base in Somaliland as a strategic location to attack and deter the Houthi, in exchange for formal recognition of the country and financial investments in it.
As part of Donald Trump’s postwar plan in the Middle East, in March 2025, Israel reached out to Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland to potentially direct there Palestinians forcibly relocated from the Gaza Strip. In this scenario, AP reported that “An American official involved in the efforts confirmed that the U.S. was ‘having a quiet conversation with Somaliland about a range of areas where they can be helpful to the U.S. in exchange for recognition’.”
And recognition did finally come, solely from Israel, on December 26th, 2025.
There are at least 3 perspectives of the event.
First, Bashir Goth, Somaliland’s representative in the United States, reacted to the news by stating that“Israel is also a like-minded democracy. We almost have the same values. Israel was always on our side, on our radar.” Following this line of thinking, there are numerous similarities between Israel and Somaliland, described in detail by Haaretz reporter Nadan Feldman “It may be said that Israel and Somaliland are similar in two essential ways: They are both small, vulnerable democracies, situated in areas rife with authoritarian regimes and murderous wars. Also, both are suffering from sovereignty issues vis-à-vis the international community, and both have enemies that seek to destroy them”.
Second, the people who took the street in different cities of Somaliland protesting Israeli recognition, distancing themselves from any involvement with Israel in support of Palestine. In response, the police of self-proclaimed “most democratic country in East Africa” warned that they would take action against individuals openly opposed to Somaliland’s recognition efforts and made numerous arrests.
Last but not least, Somalia’s take on the issue. Mogadishu, the capital, and other cities have seen citizens revolting against the recognition of Somaliland, waving Somali flags and chanting for national unity. The Somali president called Netanyahu’s move “unacceptable. It represents a clear assault on the sovereignty, independence, and territorial unity of the Federal Republic of Somalia.” The National Consultative Council, similarly, defined the recognition as an “illegal step” that threatens regional security stretching from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.
We keep on watching what comes next.
