Israel’s Historic Somaliland Visit: A Sovereignty Game-Changer?

The Desert Handshake That Shook the Horn

By dawn on Monday, the tarmac at Hargeisa’s Egal International Airport shimmered under a merciless sun. A lone Israeli Gulfstream jet rolled to a halt, its blue-and-white tail fin cutting a sharp silhouette against the ochre hills. Cameras clicked as Foreign Minister Eli Cohen stepped onto the runway, becoming the first Israeli cabinet member ever to set foot in Somaliland.

Within minutes the visit detonated a diplomatic firestorm. Somalia’s government in Mogadishu called it a “blatant assault on sovereignty”; neighbouring Djibouti warned of “destabilising unilateralism”; and across social media, the hashtag #SomalilandRecognition began trending from Tel Aviv to Toronto.

Why This Visit Matters

For three decades Somaliland has governed its own territory, printed its own currency and even held six consecutive presidential elections. Yet no UN member state has ever recognised its 1991 declaration of independence. Until this week, the closest thing to legitimacy was a 2020 US congressional letter urging “exploration of closer ties”.

“Recognition is not charity; it is the acknowledgement of a political fact on the ground,” Cohen told reporters in Hargeisa, flanked by Somaliland’s President Muse Bihi Abdi. “Israel knows what it means to build a nation against the odds.”

The two ministers signed a three-page “strategic cooperation” memorandum that opens Israeli agricultural-tech hubs in Berbera, pledges visa-free travel for diplomats and—most controversially—establishes a “joint committee to explore pathways to mutual recognition”.

The Ripple Effect

• Security: Israel gains a potential Red-Sea listening post just 12 km from the main shipping lane that carries 12% of global trade.
• Water: Somaliland’s port of Berbera is undergoing a $442 million UAE-funded upgrade; Israeli engineers could turn it into a desalination logistics hub.
• Diplomacy: Analysts say the move pressures Washington to clarify its own position after last year’s National Defence Authorisation Act urged “expanded engagement” with Somaliland.

Backlash in Mogadishu

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud called an emergency cabinet session, branding the visit “a violation of international law and the charter of the African Union”. Turkey, which trains Somali troops, expressed “deep concern”, while Egypt—embroiled in a Nile dam dispute with Israel’s new regional ally Ethiopia—warned against “any alteration of the status quo”.

Yet inside Somaliland, the mood was jubilant. In the capital’s central market, 23-year-old electronics vendor Amina Omar waved an Israeli flag printed on her phone cover. “We are not a breakaway region; we were independent before 1960,” she said, referring to the short-lived British protectorate that voluntarily joined Italian Somalia. “The world is finally waking up.”

What Happens Next?

Western diplomats privately predict a domino effect: first Guinea and the Czech Republic, then possibly Kenya and Ghana. But recognition remains a high-stakes gamble. China, a veto-wielding Security Council member, defends Somalia’s territorial integrity to protect its own interests in Taiwan. Russia, courting African support over Ukraine, is unlikely to break ranks.

Still, the storyteller’s rule holds: once a forbidden door is cracked open, it rarely closes completely. As the Israeli jet lifted off Monday evening, President Bihi stood alone on the runway, watching the tail lights disappear into the night sky. “History,” he murmured, “sometimes lands unannounced.”