The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will convene in New York for an emergency session on Monday afternoon following Israel’s recognition of Somaliland.
The session will be held at the request of Somalia.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Jerusalem officially recognized Somaliland on Friday, making Israel the first UN member state to recognize the nation as an independent and sovereign state.
Netanyahu said the declaration was made "in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, and signed at the initiative of US President Donald Trump."
Despite Netanyahu's declaration, Trump said in an interview with the New York Post on Saturday that the United States will not immediately follow Israel's decision to recognize the nation on the Horn of Africa. “Does anyone know what Somaliland is, really?” Trump was quoted as saying.
Somalian President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud decried the recognition as an act of "illegal aggression" that went "against international law" in a statement released on X/Twitter on Saturday.
"Meddling with Somalia’s internal affairs is contrary to established legal & diplomatic rules," Mohamud asserted, adding "Somalia & its people are one: inseparable by division from afar."
The foreign ministers of Somalia, Egypt, Turkey, and Djibouti similarly condemned Israel’s recognition of Somaliland, Somalia’s breakaway region, Egypt said on Friday.
“The ministers affirmed their total rejection and condemnation of Israel’s recognition of the Somaliland region, stressing their full support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia,” Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement following a phone call between Egypt’s foreign minister and his Somali, Turkish, and Djiboutian counterparts.
Syria's Foreign Ministry also condemned Israel's recognition of Somaliland in a Saturday statement published to social media, calling the move a violation of "international law and the United Nations Charter" and of the " sovereignty of the Federal Republic of Somalia and its national unity and territorial integrity."
Israeli envoy: Somalia seeks to 'challenge sovereign decisions'
Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said Israel “will act responsibly and with discretion, while not shying away from political discussions that seek to challenge sovereign decisions.”
“We will continue to cooperate with any party that contributes to regional stability,” Danon added.
Somaliland has enjoyed effective autonomy and relative peace and stability since 1991, when Somalia descended into civil war, but the breakaway region has failed to receive recognition from any other country.
Over the years, Somalia has rallied international actors against any country recognizing Somaliland.
The former British protectorate hopes that recognition by Israel will encourage other nations to follow suit, increasing its diplomatic heft and access to international markets.