Israel has become the first country in the world to recognise the east African region of Somaliland as an independent state, the Israeli government announced on Friday.
Somaliland, a Muslim-majority region in northern Somalia with a population of a few million, has operated de facto independently for more than three decades.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi signed a joint statement formalising the recognition, which Israel said was made “in the spirit” of the Abraham Accords.
The Abraham Accords, initiated by U.S. President Donald Trump in 2020, previously led the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan to normalise relations with Israel.
The move to recognise Somaliland has sparked anger among several regional powers.
The African Union (AU), representing all 55 internationally recognised African states, warned that any attempt to undermine Somalia’s unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity risks setting “a dangerous precedent with far-reaching implications for peace and stability across the continent.”
