Israel confirms formal recognition of Somaliland

Somaliland was first established in 1960 after the Somaliland Protectorate was granted independence from the British Empire.

Since then, it has been largely controlled by the Isaaq clan, who claim the legacy of the pre-protectorate Isaaq Sultanate, which covered parts of modern Somalia and Ethiopia in the 18^th Century.

However, shortly after independence, Somaliland entered into a voluntary union with the neighbouring Italian Somaliland to form the Somali Republic.

Since then, and through the creation of modern Somalia in 2012, the region has been fraught with regime change, inter-ethnic violence and invasion, including a US-backed Ethiopian occupation between 2006 and 2012 and a civil war against Al Shabaab, an Al Qaeda-linked Islamist terror group.
The attempted genocide of the Isaaq under Somalia’s Mohammed Siad Barre, the dictatorial leader of a socialist military junta in Somalia, in the late 1980s, which saw an estimated 100,000 Isaaq civilians massacred, has been a key source of hostility between the two states and is central to Isaaq-dominated Somaliland’s push to break away.

Somaliland unilaterally declared independence from what is now Somalia in 1991 as Barre’s Somali Democratic Republic collapsed.

Responding to Israel’s recognition, the first given by a UN member state, the president of Somaliland, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, pledged to join the Abraham Accords, normalising ties with the Jewish State.

However, the announcement has prompted significant backlash within the region, largely from Israel’s opponents.

Somali Prime Minister Hamza Abdi Barre, of no relation to Siad Barre, called it an “deliberate attack” on his country’s sovereignty, while the foreign minister of Egypt, Turkey and Djibouti issued a joint statement to voice their “total rejection and condemnation of Israel’s recognition of the Somaliland region, stressing their full support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia”.

Condemnation also came from the Arab League, the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the African Union (AU), and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC).

The UN has called an emergency session of the Security Council to discuss the recognition after the EU came out against the move, and members are expected to vote to condemn Israel’s actions.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the UN, said: “Israel will act responsibly and we will continue to cooperate with partners who contribute to regional stability.”