Following Israel’s official recognition of the breakaway region of Somalia, protests have erupted across the country, with demonstrators taking to the streets in various cities, including Mogadishu, the country’s capital.
Large crowds gathered on Tuesday morning at locations like the main football stadium in Mogadishu and the city’s airport, where protesters chanted slogans and waved Somali flags.
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Following a stop in neighboring Djibouti, President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud travelled to Istanbul to meet with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The demonstrations also took place in Baidoa, Dhusamareb, Las Anod, Hobyo, and the northeastern regions of Somalia.
Somalia and Turkiye have close political and security ties, with Ankara recently emerging as a regional rival to Israel.
Borama, a city in western Somaliland, where the population appears to be more ambivalent about ending its relationship with Somalia, also hosted small gatherings to express their opposition.
Despite retaining its own currency, passport, and army, Somaliland unilaterally declared independence in 1991 following a civil war.
The state, according to Somaliland’s leaders, is the country’s replacement for the former British protectorate, which voluntarily merged with Italian Somaliland and has since reclaimed its independence. Somalia does not recognize its independence, but it continues to claim Somaliland as part of its territory.
Last Friday, Israel became the first and only nation to formally recognize it as a sovereign state, citing the historic Abraham Accords, which established a framework for a more stable relationship between Israel and various Arab countries.
Mohamed Hassan, the director-general of Somaliland’s foreign ministry, stated to Israeli outlet i24 that more nations should follow suit, though he did not specify which ones.
Over the weekend, Somaliland’s leaders were urged by President Mohamud to reverse the decision, warning that its territory, which overlooks the strategic Red Sea gateway, must not be used as a staging area for attacks on other countries.
Any Israeli presence in Somaliland, according to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, would be seen as a “military target for our armed forces.”
President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi said the decision “is not a threat, not an act of hostility” toward any state shortly after Somaliland made its announcement to join Israel on Friday, and warned that Somalia’s insistence on unified institutions could lead to “prolonging divisions rather than healing” them.
Leaders from all political parties have publicly condemned Israel’s decision, which is a rare example of political unity in Somalia.
The recognition was rejected as an “illegal step” that threatens regional security stretching from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden on Monday by the National Consultative Council, which is led by Mohamud and includes the prime minister, federal state presidents, regional governors, and prime ministers.
Over the weekend, four federal member states released coordinated statements denouncing the action. Puntland and Jubbaland have both remained silent, with the exception of the constitutional and electoral disputes that recently led to their withdrawal from Somalia’s federal system.
In response to the decision, which several nations claimed may have serious implications for Palestinians in Gaza, the majority of UNSC members criticized Israel’s decision to recognize Somaliland at a meeting held on Monday.
The 15-member body’s original members, including the United States, said their position on Somaliland had not changed, despite the fact that they were the only ones to not object to Israel’s formal recognition at the meeting in New York on Monday.
Abu Bakr Dahir Osman, the UN ambassador to Somalia, expressed concern that the recognition “aims to promote the fragmentation of Somalia” and that it may lead to the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to northwestern Somalia. This concern is shared by several other countries.
He declared, “This total disregard for the rule of law and morality must end right away.”
Israel “has the same right to establish diplomatic relations as any other sovereign state,” according to US deputy representative Tammy Bruce, who added that Washington had not made any announcements regarding its own recognition of Somaliland.
Jonathan Miller, Israel’s deputy UN ambassador, argued that the decision was “not a hostile step toward Somalia” and that other nations should follow suit.
