Somaliland celebrates Israel recognition, but Trump says he won’t follow suit for now

‘Does anyone know what Somaliland is?’ Trump asks; Israeli step provokes outrage in African Union and Palestinian Authority

Residents of Somaliland took to the streets to celebrate on Friday after Israel became the first nation to recognize the breakaway region, as US President Donald Trump dampened expectations he could follow Jerusalem’s lead.

While Trump at one point said he would study the issue, he later appeared dismissive.

“Everything is under study,” he said in a phone interview with the New York Post.  “We’ll study it. I study a lot of things and always make great decisions and they turn out to be correct.”

“Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?” Trump said

According to the Post, Trump sounded unimpressed by Somaliland’s willingness to join the Abraham Accords, even as the war in Gaza has frustrated efforts to expand the landmark normalization agreements that he brokered between Israel and several Muslim nations.

Nor was Trump impressed by Somaliland’s offer to host a US military port, according to the Post. “Big deal,” he said when asked about the offer.

Israel on Friday became the first country to recognize Somaliland, a former British protectorate that unilaterally declared independence from formerly Italian-ruled Somalia in 1991.

Footage from Somaliland’s capital, Hargeisa, showed crowds waving the national flag and singing in the streets, while images of the Israeli and Somaliland flags were projected on the exterior of the National Museum of Somaliland.

Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, who has made international recognition a top priority since taking office last year, said in a post on X that Israel’s recognition represented a “historic moment” and the start of a “strategic partnership.”

Somaliland has in the past been touted as a possible destination for Gazans ousted from the Strip under a plan Trump presented in February to take over the enclave. But Gaza peace plan the US published in September says that Palestinians would be encouraged to stay in the Strip, and it was not immediately clear if Israel’s move was related to the Strip.

Despite the celebrations in Somaliland, Israel’s move sparked widespread anger.

Somalia rejects any recognition of Somaliland. A deal between landlocked Ethiopia and Somaliland last year to lease a stretch of coastline for a port and military base enraged Somalia. On Friday, Somalia said Israel’s recognition of Somaliland was a “deliberate attack” on Somali sovereignty that would “undermine regional peace.”

The Palestinian Authority also rejected Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, saying on X that the African nation had been named “as a destination for the forced displacement of our Palestinian people, particularly from the Gaza Strip,” and warning against “complicity” with such a move.

Turkey, a close ally of Somalia, also condemned Israel’s recognition of Somaliland.

“This initiative by Israel, which aligns with its expansionist policy… constitutes overt interference in Somalia’s domestic affairs,” a foreign ministry statement said.

Egypt said its top diplomat had spoken with counterparts from Turkey, Somalia and Djibouti, who together condemned the move and emphasized “full support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia.”

The African Union said Israel’s move risked “setting a dangerous precedent with far-reaching implications for peace and stability across the continent.” Somaliland “remains an integral part” of Somalia, an AU member, said the pan-African body’s head Mahamoud Ali Youssouf.

A self-proclaimed republic, Somaliland enjoys a strategic position on the Gulf of Aden and has its own money, passports and army. It also has a history of peaceful and democratic transitions of power, while Somalia has been beset by a decades-long civil war.

But Somaliland has been diplomatically isolated since declaring independence. Its lack of international recognition has hampered access to foreign loans, aid and investment, and the territory remains deeply impoverished.

Israel’s regional security interests may lie behind its recognition of Somaliland. In a paper last month, Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies said “Israel requires allies in the Red Sea region for many strategic reasons, among them the possibility of a future campaign against the Houthis,” the Iran-backed Yemeni rebels who have clashed with Israel amid the war in Gaza.