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Mogadishu, Somalia Israel welcomed the president of Somaliland to Jerusalem, paying a rare honor to the leader of a region that is still unknown to any country other than Israel.
President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, popularly known as Cirro, arrived last Sunday on his first official visit to Somaliland, six months after Israel became the first country to recognize the independence of the breakaway region from Somalia.
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“I am here as president of Somaliland for the first time,” Abdullahi told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at a conference. “For 35 years we have been asking the world to see us. And Israel and you were the first to see us and recognize us.”
Netanyahu framed this decision through Jewish history. “It is a natural thing for us to do, because we remember as Jewish people, a minority, who asked to know their freedom from the world, so there is a natural compassion for you,” he said.
The visit included a high level ceremony and what the officials said during the main discussions. The technical cooperation agreement was signed along with many meetings, emphasizing the desire of both sides to change the diplomatic recognition into a comprehensive cooperation that includes security, trade and regional strategies.
Somaliland is located across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen and commands a long stretch of coastline facing one of the world’s busiest corridors. As Netanyahu said in an appearance with Abdullahi, his territory is at the end of the Red Sea, adjacent to the Bab al-Mandab Strait, the narrow entrance that connects the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean and the most difficult trade route in the world.
For Israel, which has spent the past two years exchanging fire with Yemen’s Houthis while watching its Red Sea fleet go awry again and again, the region appears to be of utmost importance.
The visit also came against US President Donald Trump’s deal with Iran, a move that has increased pressure on Netanyahu from critics who say it leaves many of Israel’s security concerns unresolved.
Yossi Mekelberg, a Middle East analyst at Chatham House, said Somaliland provided Israel with a rare opportunity at a time when it is facing regional isolation after a series of conflicts with Iran and its allies.
“They don’t have many friends, and Israel is alone,” Mekelberg told Al Jazeera. “And if you look at the geography, it makes sense.”
Abdullahi was received by President Isaac Herzog at the presidential palace in Jerusalem, before meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and most of Israel’s political and security leadership.
He also received the symbol of a full world tour, laid a wreath at the grave of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism, and received the Friends of Zion Award from the Friends of Zion Museum, an honor given to foreign leaders who are considered strong supporters of Israel.
During the visit, Somaliland officially opened its embassy in West Jerusalem at a ceremony attended by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar. The move bucked the practice of many countries, which keep their embassies in Tel Aviv because Jerusalem’s history remains controversial and Israel’s claim to sovereignty over the entire city is not recognized internationally.
The decision drew criticism from Palestine, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Arab League.
“Israel and Somaliland are moving towards a phase of integration of this relationship and obviously the game that Cirro received shows this,” Moses Chrispus Okello, a senior researcher at the South Africa-based Institute for Security Studies, told Al Jazeera.
“But the whole prize for Israel is not Somaliland, it is the Red Sea,” added Okello.
Security Question
Although the Somaliland authorities have shown interest in cooperation with Israel in all areas such as water management, health and agriculture, it is Israel’s security interests that have attracted the most attention, leading to speculations about what Israel is getting from this relationship.
When the Israeli Foreign Minister, Gideon Saar, visited for the first time Somaliland in January a month after being recognized, he said in a meeting with the president of Somaliland and the army chief that Israel was. to seek “intellectual cooperation” and important security cooperation.
Somali officials, including the president, said he says that Israel wants to establish a military base that would support operations against the Houthis in Yemen, claims that Somaliland officials have repeatedly refused to make clear.
In an interview with the Israeli outlet i24, the president of Somaliland, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, said that at the moment there is no military security plan, but when asked about the possibility, he added: “I cannot rule it out.”
Interest has focused on Berbera, Somaliland’s largest coastal city on the Gulf of Aden, where an airport originally built by the Soviet Union and later used by NASA – nominally civilian – has recently become a military base. according to an analysis by the International Institute for Strategic Studies think tank.
In a meeting with Abdullahi, Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said that his country has been cooperating for many years “under the radar in several cases” with Somaliland, and added that he hoped it would reach “new heights”.
Ali Omar, Somalia’s Foreign Minister, told Al Jazeera, that the government’s “biggest fear” is that Somaliland will be affected by Israel’s territorial disputes. “This disruption will bring tension to an already troubled region,” he said.
Omar told Al Jazeera that Somalia “repeatedly offered (negotiations) on every issue”, except Somalia’s unity. “Our door remains open,” he added.
Israel’s recognition of Somaliland reflects a situation that has been strained since 1991, when Somaliland declared independence while Somalia experienced a protracted civil war. Negotiations between Mogadishu and Hargeisa have failed to produce satisfactory results for both sides.
In an interview with local media last week, the President of Somalia, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, said that Israel had contacted his government several times in recognition of the dangers it faced throughout the region, but that Mogadishu had refused to reciprocate.
He added that Israel’s alliance with Somaliland means “a lot of trouble is coming from it,” without elaborating.
Opponents of Israel’s decision are growing
While the idea of investing in relations with Israel appears to be popular in Somaliland, with Israeli delegations participating in Somaliland’s independence day celebrations on May 18, murmurs of dissent have been growing.
In a video in February, Muse Bihi Abdi, a former president who is seen as a supporter of Israel’s recognition, called on the government to disclose its agreements with Israel. He expressed concern that Israel could use Somaliland as a staging post against its enemies.
“Our laws do not allow anything that harms Muslims or is against our religion. Acting like this is against the law, and we reject it,” he said.
Religious scholars in Somaliland, where there is a majority of Muslims, have also appeared to have different views on the matter, with some opposing the government’s decision while others, including prominent Islamic scholars, have condemned it.
Although Somaliland officials initially said that several countries have accepted, the US, which has been Somaliland’s the main purpose of recognitionHe has said that his position has not changed, and no other country has followed suit.
Israel’s move has also drawn criticism from several key countries in the region. Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Egypt he complained For the recognition of Israel in Somaliland, together with the African Union, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League.
The Houthis have been very vocal in their opposition, warning that they could see any Israeli presence in Somaliland as “military objectives” and, more recently, criticized Somaliland’s decision to open an embassy in Jerusalem.
Jama Abdullahi Igal Gabuush, a close aide to the President of Somaliland and the lead negotiator with Israel, agreed soon group that building relations with Israel carries risks that Somaliland is willing to accept. “Somaliland must take the role it must take, and you make enemies because of what you want and what you want to be,” he said. “And I think Somaliland is ready to do that.”
Both governments are still holding out. Somaliland’s defense minister told Reuters that Israel was training Somaliland’s military units, although the defense ministry later denied making the claim.
During his meeting with Netanyahu, the President of Somaliland he announced the signing of the Strategic Cooperation Declaration, which Somaliland said is “the beginning of a very important phase of diplomatic relations and strategic cooperation” between them.
Chatham House analyst Mekelberg told Al Jazeera that while the relationship offers benefits to both sides, it does not solve all their problems.
“Netanyahu is looking for ways to continue to solve the Palestinian problem and reach out to other countries,” he said. “Somaliland is doing this too much. Yes it is big for them and important for them but Israel can’t do anything.”
