Somalia's president says Somaliland agreed to resettle Palestinians, host Israeli base for recognition

ISTANBUL

Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said the breakaway region of Somaliland has agreed to resettle Palestinians and host an Israeli military base in return for recognition by Israel, citing intelligence reports.

Tel Aviv’s recognition of Somaliland was “very unexpected and strange,” Mohamud told the Qatari news network Al Jazeera in an exclusive interview, adding that it came “out of nowhere” as Israel became the first since 1991 to recognize the region as an independent state.

Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991, has operated as a de facto self-governing region without international recognition, as the central government in Mogadishu has failed to reassert control.

Mogadishu rejects Somaliland’s independence claim, considers the region part of Somalia, and views any direct engagement with it as a violation of the country’s sovereignty.

“We’ve been trying to reunite the country in a peaceful manner,” Mohamud said.

He said Somaliland also accepted joining the Abraham Accords, signed in 2020 between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan, and Morocco to normalize their relations.

Israel is seeking to control strategically important waterways such as the Red Sea, the Gulf, and the Gulf of Aden, and its recognition of Somaliland merely normalizes an existing covert presence there, the Somali president said, citing intelligence reports.

He said Israel is not in the region for peace and seeks to forcibly displace Palestinians to Somalia.

Global backlash is growing over Tel Aviv’s recognition of Somaliland, with many countries condemning the move as a violation of international law and a threat to regional stability.

On Monday, countries at the UN Security Council raised concerns at an emergency meeting that the move appears aimed at relocating Palestinians from Gaza.

Nearly all council members condemned Israel’s recognition, while the US abstained from condemnation, saying its stance on the breakaway region, however, had not changed.