The victory of Somalia’s Northeast State over secessionist Somaliland gives Somalis hope of renewed unity and sovereignty, but Israel attacked that hope by recognizing Somaliland.
Somaliland’s declared president Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi is in Washington to plead with the United States to recognize it as a nation independent of Somalia. He promises to be a key US security partner on the geocritical Bab-el Mandeb Strait and Gulf of Aden and to offer generous resource extraction deals, particularly in rare earth minerals.
His trip comes just a month after Somalia’s Northeast State celebrated the anniversary of its constitution as one of the seven Federal Member States of Somalia. In 2023 its people won the Las Anod Conflict, their war to break free from secessionist Somaliland and rejoin the Somali nation.
Israel attacks Somalia’s sovereignty, destabilizing the Horn and the Red Sea Region
In December 2025, Israel became the only UN member state to recognize Somaliland as an independent nation, further expanding its footprint in the Horn of Africa, directly across the Gulf of Aden from its sworn enemy Ansar Allah, and further polarizing both the Horn and the Red Sea Region.
Israel can already count Kenya and Ethiopia among its allies and security partners, although neither of these nations went so far as to support its flagrantly illegal recognition of Somaliland.
What does “recognition” mean in this context? It means that Israel will openly bypass Somalia’s federal government in Mogadishu to negotiate with Somaliland about security, resource extraction, and whatever else is at issue between them. This is not uncommon in Somalia, whose sovereignty is fragile, but it formalizes a bilateral relationship, giving it some flimsy pretense to legality. Some fear this could even lead to a bilateral agreement to expel Palestinians to Somaliland.
The Somali government in Mogadishu would never sign such an agreement. The Somali people are so pro-Palestinian that it would risk an uprising that threatens the security of the Somali state.
The Arab League, the African Union (AU), the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), the European Union, and 14 of the 15 members of the UN Security Council all condemned Israel’s action as a violation of Somali sovereignty and territorial integrity, and of the UN Charter and the African Union Constitutive Act.
Somalia issued a statement affirming its absolute, non-negotiable commitment to its own sovereignty, national unity, and territorial integrity. Somali Ambassador to the UN Abukar Dahir Osman condemned any plan to expel the Palestinian population to northern Somalia.
Egypt, Turkey, and Jordan were among the regional actors who issued their own statements condemning Israel’s illegal and destabilizing action. Four of the six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, condemned it, but the other two, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates, did not.
Somali protestors burned Israeli flags in the streets of Mogadishu in response. Somalia is one of the 29 UN member states who do not recognize Israel and one of the 157 of 193 UN member states who recognize Palestine. Most of the states who do not recognize Israel have Muslim majorities, but they also include Cuba and the Democratic Peoples’ Republic of Korea.
The UAE, Bahrain, and Morocco all recognized Israel by signing the US-engineered Abraham Accords.
Bahrain was the only one to contribute troops to Operation Prosperity Guardian, a minimally successful naval task force to protect Red Sea shipping from the Houthis in 2024. Other nations, even those who recognized Israel, eschewed the optics of joining while US bombs rained down on Gaza.
The United States refused to join the other 14 members of the UN Security Council in condemning Israel’s recognition of Somaliland and its representative accused the Council of hypocrisy.
“Earlier this year,” she said, “several countries, including members of this Council, made the unilateral decision to recognize a non-existent Palestinian state, and yet, no emergency meeting was called to express this Council’s outrage.
“This Council’s persistent double standards and misdirection of focus distract from its mission of maintaining peace and security. On the matter of Somaliland, we have no announcement to make on the recognition of Somaliland and there has been no change in American policy.”
American policy has been to negotiate directly with Somaliland on security issues, in violation of Somalia’s sovereignty, but to officially reconfirm Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is what other foreign powers have done until Israel declared that it would treat Somaliland as an independent nation.
Why has the US taken this route? It already gets all the security cooperation and whatever else it wants from Somaliland, and from Somalia; it has nothing further to gain by recognizing Somaliland.
What does Israel get that it doesn’t already have? Access that it doesn’t have in Somalia, which is too pro-Palestinian to negotiate with it about anything. And, of course, a foothold right across from Ansar Allah on the Gulf of Aden.
Israel has also succeeded in heightening tension between the two axes emerging in the Horn and Red Sea Region. One is Somalia, Turkiye, Saudi Arabia, Eritrea, Egypt, Sudan, Djibouti, and Pakistan. The other is Israel, the UAE, Ethiopia, Kenya, Qatar, and Bahrain.
Pakistan is now reported to be sending troops to Somalia to fight terrorism on Turkiye’s behalf. “Fighting terrorism” is always the explanation for sending troops into Somalia, but they rarely seem to be part of a coordinated effort, and in 20 years, have never had any success.
However, some reports actually state that their intent might actually be to train security forces and build cooperative security agreements.
The Northeast State Now Stands for Somalia’s Struggle to Reclaim Its Sovereignty
The Somali nation was beaten back and forth between the opposing sides during the Cold War until it finally suffered state collapse in 1991, when the Cold War ended and the US pulled its support out from under then President Siad Barre. For the next 15 years it suffered chaos and clan warfare until it finally found some welcome stability in rule by the Islamic Courts.
However, the US sent their proxy, the Ethiopian Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), into Somalia to overthrow the Courts, causing the return of chaos and the emergence of the Courts’ Islamic extremist elements as the terrorist group Al Shabaab.
Somalia now has little sovereignty to defend, given that it barely even has a standing army. Ineffective AU peacekeeping forces and a US drone bombing operation have occupied the country for nearly two decades without defeating Al Shabaab, and throughout that time Somalia has been discouraged from building its own army and security forces.
Despite all this it still has a flag and a UN seat, and the UN has never withdrawn its recognition of a sovereign nation. Many Somalis want to re-establish their sovereignty on the ground, and by all accounts, Mogadishu is hopping commercially despite the chaos.
Many saw the hope in the Northeast State’s battle to break free of secessionist Somaliland, and many young men from southern Somalia traveled north to fight alongside the pro-Somalia Dhubulhante forces.
Having just traveled to the Northeast State for the Las Anod Forum, I can confirm that its people are still riding high on their victory and determined to protect it even though Somaliland has refused to cede territory and vowed to win it back in battle.
People from other parts of Somalia and from the diaspora attended the Forum to discuss the state’s progress and future. They discussed rebuilding the universities and other infrastructure damaged during the war. They talked about a sustainable livestock industry.
I noted bullet holes near the ceiling of an office in one of the universities and an administrator told me they hadn’t had time to fix that yet, but they had reconstructed and plastered the corner of the office that had been shelled.
People talked about organizing plastics recycling and teams to go out and pick up all the plastic blowing around in the desert.
On my flight back to Mogadishu I sat next to a gentleman representing a Norwegian foundation who had come to discuss rebuilding the hospital and the ICU. He said that his foundation focussed on building infrastructure that would function after they were gone.
What territory is there to recognize
Somaliland’s quest to secede from Somalia and the Northeast State’s success at seceding from Somaliland raise the issue of territorial control. What territory is there for the US or any other nation to recognize? Proponents of Somaliland independence often cite the Montevideo Convention for qualification as a state, in which Article I states:
The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.
Somaliland claims to control all the territory within the boundaries of the former British colony, British Somaliland, but in fact it controls little more than half.
The Northeast State controls at least 30%, consequent to its victory in the Las Anod Conflict, and Somaliland’s western Awdal Region is in revolt against its authority, protesting for Palestine and Somali unity. The Warsangali clan in southeastern borderlands largely ignores Somaliland’s authority and identifies more with either Northeast or Puntland State.
Somaliland therefore fails to meet two requirements of the Convention, both a defined territory and a permanent population. What is there to recognize?
The most heavily fortified border in Somalia
Somaliland has not formally ceded the territory that it lost in 2023, and the disputed border is now the most heavily fortified in the country.
I traveled along that border with a diaspora organizer, German anthropologist Markus Virgil Hoehne, a driver, and an armed guard. We passed half a dozen military outposts until we came to the last command post ahead of where the Northeast State and Somaliland armies are in various formations on either side of the border. Our hosts didn’t think it would be safe for us to go further, so we stopped to talk to Commander Asad Duulane and his troops. This is my conversation with Commander Duulane and anthropologist Markus Virgil Hoehne.
ANN GARRISON: Commander Duulane, what were you and the Dhulbahante clan forces fighting for in the 2023 Las Anod Conflict, which you won against the secessionist Isaaq clan forces?
COMMANDER ASAD DUULANE: We were fighting for the Northeast State’s independence from Somaliland and for the unity of the Somali nation, which we love. We are the bridge holding Somalia together now. Other young men from the south of the country came to fight with us because they also wanted to fight for the unity of the Somali nation.
AG: Somaliland’s Isak Clan still claims to control all the land within the borders of what was British Somaliland, but we’re well inside those borders right now, aren’t we?
AD: Yes, we are, but they have not formally ceded the territory they lost. Their forces are amassed against ours about five miles up the road here, but you can’t see the military formations without a drone. We don’t think it would be safe for you to go that much farther, although we have been in control of this land since August 2023, when we raised our state flag and the Somali national flag over Las Anod.
AG: Markus, could you tell us the significance of the Northeast State?
MVH: Yes, as the commander just said, this was a statement for the unity of Somalia. By chasing away the Somaliland secessionist forces which had been occupying this land all the way up to Las Anod and further for many years, they re-asserted the unity of Somalia. This is a very important development for the country.
AG: What does it mean when you say that the Somaliland forces had been “occupying” this land?
MVH: Well, for one, as we’ve both said, the Somaliland forces want to secede and the people of the Northeast State want to remain as a state within Somalia, but there was also clan occupation and oppression here.
The Somaliland government and forces are of the Isak clan and the people of the Northeast State are of the Dhulbahante clan, and there is a longstanding conflict between the two.
The military, police, and administration of Las Anod and the surrounding region had been Isak for a long time, so by rising up the Dhulbahante were not only declaring allegiance to the Somali nation but also freeing themselves from Isak oppression. One hundred and twenty of their leaders had been killed in roughly a decade and when another was killed in December 2022 they rose up. By February they were fighting a full-blown war with heavy, advanced weaponry and in August they won. My estimation is that 5000 people died. Since then the government, military, and police have been Dhulbahante.
The Northeast State is now at least 30% of the former British Somaliland, with firmly established boundaries, so the map that Hargeisa is presenting to the US and other authorities, pleading for recognition, does not represent reality on the ground.
Further neighboring territory that was once within British Somaliland is inhabited by the Warsangali clan, who are also beyond Hargeisa’s control. They don’t have a history or conflict with the Isak as the Dhulbahante do, so they just don’t pay much attention to them.
These borderlands are also divided as to whether they belong more with the Northeast State or with Puntland, the territory that juts into the Indian Ocean on the map. So, once again, the map that Somaliland is presenting in its plea for recognition does not represent reality on the ground.
AG: Commander, has there been any further fighting since you raised your flag, which is now the Northeast State flag, and the Somali flag over Las Anod?
CAD: It’s been about sixteen months since the war broke out again in April 2025. There has not been a truce and Somaliland has not ceded the territory we control, so technically we are still at war with Somaliland, and the two armies are only about five kilometers from one another. A war could break out either intentionally or by accident, but we are very well-armed and prepared to protect our border.
AG: Isn’t there a danger that Israel could arm and train Somaliland troops to reignite the conflict and, as you said, possibly internationalize it, bringing in other regional powers?
CAD: Yes, but we want peace. Our motto is peace. Everybody wants peace but we realize the danger that Israel has created. Whatever happens, we, the Northeast State forces, are prepared to defend our territory and our people.
AG: Markus, is there anything you’d like to say about that?
MVH: Israel is obviously no friend of peace in West Asia or the Horn of Africa. The rest of the world who want peace in this region should be well aware of the tension, and danger that Israel has escalated by recognizing Somaliland.
AG: Thanks to you, Commander Duulane, Markus, and all of you for standing out here in the desert wind to talk to me.
Ann Garrison is a Black Agenda Report Contributing Editor based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 2014, she received the Victoire Ingabire Umuhoza Democracy and Peace Prize for her reporting on conflict in the African Great Lakes region. She can be reached at ann@anngarrison.com. You can help support her work on Patreon.
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