Israel Recognizes Republic of Somaliland as an Independent State

On December 26, 2025, Israel became the first country to formally recognize the Republic of Somaliland as “an independent and sovereign state.”

Somalia’s President Sheikh Mohamud called Israel’s action an act of “aggression that will never be tolerated.” He added that "Somalia & its people are one: inseparable by division from afar."

At Somalia’s request, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting on December 29^th to line up the so-called “international community” against Israel’s action. Multiple Security Council members and others obliged, warning that the move was a provocative step that undercuts the Mogadishu regime's sovereignty.

They are wrong.

By way of background, the former British Somaliland protectorate to the north first gained its independence on June 26, 1960 and received international recognition as the “State of Somaliland.” Four days later, after the Italian-controlled Somalia territory, known as the Trust Territory of Somaliland, gained its independence, the independent State of Somaliland voluntarily joined a federation with the independent Trust Territory of Somaliland to form the Somali Republic. They agreed to Mogadishu as its capital.

But the State of Somaliland only agreed to this arrangement upon the condition that its people would be guaranteed certain rights. It did not take long for the rulers in Mogadishu, who increasingly treated what had been the independent State of Somaliland as a vassal territory, to blatantly trample on those rights. Resistance to the dictatorial regime by the Somaliland people in the north was met with ruthless attacks that devolved into genocide, costing tens of thousands of people their lives.

Dissolving a voluntary federation between previously independent states that one side has grossly abused is not secession. It represents the Somaliland people’s exercise of their right of self-determination to restore their independence after the suffering and humiliation that the regime in Mogadishu inflicted upon them. So, they declared their independence as the Republic of Somaliland in 1991 and developed democratic political institutions along with a stable economy.

The Republic of Somaliland meets the major criteria for international recognition as an independent nation. However, for various geo-political reasons it did not receive such recognition from any country until Israel’s decision to become the first UN member state to do so. 

The Mogadishu regime knew that it could use the UN Security Council meeting to its advantage to denounce Israel’s recognition of Somaliland independence.

Somalia’s UN representative said that “This act of aggression is aimed at encouraging fragmentation of Somalia” and represents a “flagrant assault” on his country’s unity and territorial integrity. He called on all UN member states to condemn “unequivocally” Israel’s recognition of the Republic of Somaliland as an independent state.

Other member states listened to his plea.

Sierra Leone’s representative, for example, declared that sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity “are not optional ideas; they are foundational obligations under the Charter and the bedrock of Africa’s stability and international peace and security.”

China’s delegate said that Somaliland is “an integral part of Somali territory,” presumably thinking of China’s own claims to Taiwan. He demanded that “Somaliland” authorities “stop separatist activities and collusion with external forces.”

“Any action that diverts attention, weakens cohesion or fuels division is profoundly irresponsible,” Pakistan’s representative said. He accused Israel of compounding the instability and conflict it has allegedly caused in the Middle East with its occupation of Palestinian territory by “now exporting this destabilizing conduct to the Horn of Africa.”

Kuwait’s representative, speaking for the Arab Group, called Israel’s recognition of the Republic of Somaliland an “illegal, null and void, unilateral action” and asked the Security Council to “take a firm position against this unlawful Israeli act.”

Several European countries warned of the repercussions that could result from Israel’s recognition of the Republic of Somaliland as an independent state, including Denmark, the United Kingdom, and France. The French representative, for example, expressed concern about any action that might “compromise peace and security” in Somalia and surrounding areas. “Internal disputes within Somalia must be resolved in a negotiated manner in the context of a dialogue between all Somali stakeholders,” he said.

The Mogadishu regime destroyed the original negotiated federation arrangement entered between the independent State of Somaliland and the independent Trust Territory of Somaliland. The dictatorship’s answer to the Somaliland people’s aspiration for self-determination was genocide, not dialogue.

The United States representative took a more positive approach towards Israel’s action. She said that Israel “has the same right to conduct diplomatic relations as any other sovereign State.” At the same time, she made it clear that the U.S. itself “has no announcement to make regarding United States recognition of ‘Somaliland’ and there has been no change in American policy.”

Israel’s representative, of course, strongly defended his country’s decision, pointing out that Israel was among thirty-five countries that had formally recognized Somaliland’s independence the first time back in 1960. Israel’s recognition this time is “neither provocative nor novel,” he said. It is “a lawful, principled acknowledgement of a long-established reality, consistent with international law and aligned with the values that this Council is meant to uphold.”

This prompted Somalia’s representative to make a second statement in rebuttal. Deriding the Israeli representative’s “lecture” to the Security Council, he falsely accused Israel of “deliberately starving” Gaza and killing more than 70,000 civilians. Trying to make Israel look bad by promoting pro-Palestinian propaganda to bolster Somalia’s claim that Israel is violating international law in recognizing the Somaliland people’s independence should come as no surprise.

In September 2025, Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud’s office issued a statement boasting that Somalia “was one of the first nations to formally recognize Palestine as a state in 1988.” Its statement added: “By recalling its early recognition of Palestine and stressing its continued support, Somalia sent a strong message at the UN that the struggle for Palestinian statehood remains a priority issue for the international community.”

The Palestinians are far from ready for an independent state of their own, no matter what rationales and schemes the so-called “international community” contrives. The Palestinians have embraced terrorism and corruption while spurning multiple chances for a state of their own, going back to the UN’s original two-state solution set out in its partition plan nearly eight decades ago. They have failed to build durable governance and economic institutions that can stand on their own. They have wasted the opportunity to build a prototype state in Gaza after Israel unilaterally withdrew all its military forces and citizens in 2005. Instead, Hamas turned Gaza into a launching pad for rocket attacks and other acts of terrorism against Israeli civilians, culminating in the horrific Palestinian terrorist massacres, rapes, and abductions on October 7, 2023.

The Mogadishu regime boasts that it “was one of the first nations to formally recognize Palestine as a state in 1988” – the same year that the regime was busy slaughtering the Somaliland people who yearned for self-determination.

Besides doing its part to give the people of Somaliland diplomatic recognition of a state of their own, which they are due after suffering years of slaughter, persecution, and humiliation, Israel is proving the truth of the saying that “what goes around comes around.” The Mogadishu regime is proud of being one of the first countries to recognize a Palestinian state back in 1988. Now Israel has become the first nation to formally recognize the Republic of Somaliland as an independent state in 2025.

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