It's not only Somaliland, Israel is equally desperate for recognition

Residents wave Somaliland flags as they gather to celebrate Israel’s announcement recognising Somaliland’s statehood in downtown Hargeisa, on December 26, 2025. [AFP]

There are several geopolitical entities that believe they are countries but have problems getting others to recognise them. There is desperate Somaliland which believes it is independent of Somalia and would like to be recognised as a state. It received its first recognition from Israel, a post-World War II implant among the Arabs in 1948, that is very persuasive in the US-led Conceptual West which has problems faulting Israel on anything. Influence in the West is synonymous with influence in the grossly dependent Global South. Israel controls Palestine comprising Gaza and West Bank which it annexed from Egypt and Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War. It would like its claims recognised as part of Greater Israel without the Palestinians. There is a convergence of interests between Somaliland and Israel. Each desperate for recognition of its claim to territory and independence, consider the other a force of legitimation. They therefore gravitate to each other.

Somaliland would not be the first post-colonial area to seek independence from the inherited colonial state. Katanga in Congo and Biafra in Nigeria tried it, ended in bitter civil wars, and failed. South Sudan, having experienced multiple-colonialism, fought for decades before a Kenyan negotiated settlement granted it independence from Sudan in 2011. Despite Ethiopia’s post-World War II claim, Eritrea was not part of Ethiopia’s territory. It fought a prolonged war before reaching a separation settlement. Western Sahara suffered Spanish colonialism and then became a victim of Morocco’s aggressive expansionism and annexation as condoned by big powers; it is not an issue of separation. Somaliland is different from the others.

Somaliland’s colonial experience was British rather than Italian or French. It was part of the British-French-Italian strategy of hemming in landlocked Menelik II’s imperial dreams. Each of the three powers grabbed pieces of the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden, or Indian Ocean whose value had increased with the opening of the Suez Canal. Italy took Eritrea and most of the Indian Ocean coastline and France snatched Djibouti. Britain claimed British Somaliland as well as British East Africa that included Jubaland which acquired British colonial identity, not Italian or French. Having proposed the short-lived idea of creating Greater Somalia during World War II, Britain agreed to unite Italian and British Somaliland that created Somalia in 1960. The dream of one big Somalia, despite diverse pre-independence identities, flopped in Siad Barre’s misadventures in Ethiopia after which Somaliland sought to end the roughly 30-year Somali unity experiment; it declared independence in 1991.

Roughly 35 years later, Somaliland is getting the desired geopolitical attention. Post-Siad Barre  Somalia adopted a strategy of hiding overt irredentism while promoting a ‘PITO principle’ of Penetrating, Integrating, and Taking Over target places. The stress was to claim citizenship of the penetrated place before take over. PITO seemingly worked in Minnesota, USA, where Congresswoman Ilhan Omar reportedly vowed to use US Congress to protect and advance Somali interests, including irredentist dreams. The trigger for her declaration was Ethiopia’s entry into an MoU in 2024 to recognise Somaliland independence and in exchange receive access to the sea. Besides Ilhan, Eldas MP Adan Keynan called for the defence of Somalia and, following President William Ruto’s removal of border restrictions between Kenya and Somalia, declared that every Somali was Kenyan and urged the Somali to vote for Ruto.

US took interest in Somaliland with President Trump reportedly favouring recognition probably for strategic and political reasons given that he and Ilhan do not like each other; Trump once joked about donating her to Somalia. While Trump supports Israeli's activities, including the possible relocation of Palestinians to Somaliland, Ilhan does not. Subsequently, three-way US, Israel, and Somaliland interests converged to enable Israel to recognise Somaliland and open the way. With Trump emasculating the UN, desperation will force many countries to seek to please the US by recognising Somaliland.