Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said the Israeli regime’s decision to recognize Somaliland was “unexpected and strange” and could be connected to plans to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza.
Speaking in an interview with Al Jazeera from Istanbul on Tuesday, Mohamud said the move by the Israeli regime carried broader implications for Palestinians and regional stability.
“Somaliland has been claiming the secession issue for a long time, over the past three decades, and no one country in the world has recognized it,” Mohamud stated.
“For us, we’ve been trying to reunite the country in a peaceful manner,” he added.
“So, after 34 years, it was very unexpected and strange that Israel, out of nowhere, just jumped in and said, ‘We recognize Somaliland’.”
Israel’s recognition of Somaliland ‘strange, unexpected’: Somali president https://t.co/r5WqlR3j49 pic.twitter.com/o07WPI3tZn
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) December 31, 2025
The Zionist entity last week became the first and only country to formally recognize Somaliland, a self-declared breakaway region in northwest Somalia along the Gulf of Aden.
Mohamud said Somali intelligence believes Somaliland accepted three conditions in exchange for recognition by the Israeli regime.
He said those conditions included the resettlement of Palestinians, the establishment of an Israeli military base on the Gulf of Aden coast, and Somaliland’s accession to the so-called Abraham Accords, set of agreements normalizing ties between ‘Israel’ and several Arab states, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan.
Israeli Presence
Meanwhile, Mohamud said Somalia has intelligence indicating there was already a degree of Israeli presence in Somaliland before the recognition.
He said the announcement merely formalized activities that had previously taken place covertly.
“Israel will resort to forcibly displacing Palestinians to Somalia, and its presence in the region is not for peace,” Mohamud added.
The Somali president said the Israeli regime was also seeking control over strategically important waterways linking major commercial routes.
He cited the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Aden as areas of particular economic and geopolitical significance.
Mohamud was in Turkey on Tuesday for a joint news conference with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Both leaders warned that Israeli recognition of the breakaway region could further destabilize the Horn of Africa.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but had failed to secure recognition from any United Nations member state until Israel changed its position last Friday.
In response, the Israeli move was swiftly condemned by numerous countries. Most members of the United Nations Security Council criticized the decision during an emergency meeting in New York on Monday.
During the #UNSC session today, the United Kingdom’s representative reaffirmed the #UK’s steadfast support for #Somalia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, political independence, and unity, emphasizing that it does not recognize #Somaliland.#Somali pic.twitter.com/5Gc78aSB2M
— Ministry of Foreign Affairs 🇸🇴 (@MOFASomalia) December 30, 2025