In late February, sources verified that President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi Irro would travel to Israel next month. The mission signals his first official trip to the nation that recognised Somaliland as an independent state only three months ago.
The planned agenda focuses on substantive policy goals because officials plan to use Israeli expertise in technology and agriculture to help the local economy.
To prepare for the cooperation, twenty-five water experts from Somaliland arrived in Tel Aviv in late February for training with MASHAV, which is the development agency in Israel.
The Score Europe Misses
The European Union restated that Somalia should remain a single country and then quickly turned to other points. The EU joined a group including Somalia, Egypt, Turkey, Djibouti, and Eritrea that rejected the move by Israel, but the reaction was not universal.
The action also received protests from the African Union, the Arab League, and the East African Community. However, the countries that made peace with Israel in 2020, such as the United Arab Emirates and Morocco, stayed silent.
The silence is exactly what the formal response from Europe ignored. The European Council on Foreign Relations has cautioned that a new group of allies is forming around the UAE, Israel, and Ethiopia.
By choosing to send lectures instead of building ports, Europe has lost its place in the region because protecting the borders of Somalia provides Hargeisa with no way to grow its economy.
Washington’s Double Answer
At the United Nations, U.S. Deputy Ambassador Tammy Bruce upheld the choice by Israel and noted that Somaliland has the right to manage its foreign affairs. At the same time, the State Department repeated that it still sees Somalia as a whole country.
At the time that Donald Trump was asked about Somaliland, he responded by asking if anyone even knows the territory exists. Conceivably, Washington is currently too busy with other problems to focus on the Horn of Africa.
Somaliland’s minister of the presidency, Khadar Hussein Abdi, said they would give the U.S. special access to minerals and might even host a military base to get recognised. But the high-pressure nuclear talks with Iran are preoccupying the Trump team.
These talks began in Geneva on February 26, at the same time that the U.S. is organising a massive military force in the Middle East. Because American gunboat diplomacy is monopolising its time on Iran, Somaliland appears to be a peripheral concern unless the port of Berbera becomes part of the Iran calculation.
The Gulf Fault Line Runs Through Berbera
The port at Berbera is positioned near the Bab el Mandab strait, which is the spot where global oil flows through a narrow gap. The UAE has developed ports and bases there, including a 440 million pound funding package for Berbera.
In 2025, UAE backed groups in Yemen took over new areas, and Saudi Arabia retaliated with airstrikes on Emirati weapons in December. This was a rare fight between partners.
Saudi Arabia has reorientated its support toward the government in Somalia, and the action has engaged Turkey, Pakistan, and Egypt too.
A diplomat told Reuters that Saudi Arabia finally woke up to the fact that the UAE had moved into the region at the same time that the Saudis were inactive. Now, the peace between Israel and Somaliland is a part of a much bigger plan to project power onto the African side of the Red Sea.
Somalia and the Price of Proxy Politics
The government in Somalia has asserted that Somaliland belongs to them and cautioned that being recognised by Israel hurts their country. Mogadishu severed its connections with the UAE in January 2026, but the fact that UAE port operations in Berbera endure proves that the central government is weak.
The Somali defence minister even appealed to Saudi Arabia to bomb Somaliland, at the same time that Türkeye has stationed jets in Somalia. This is a fight for control between two groups using local governments to get what they want through thoroughly pragmatic power deals.
Three Decades in the Balance
The trip to Israel in March should yield new trade deals, but whether the visit helps the 6.2 million people in Somaliland is the real question. Farmers only utilise a small part of the land and rain has withered away for five years, leaving 4.4 million people in dire straits.
One farmer, Faysal Omar Salah, summarised the situation by saying they are desperate for help with their dry land. Trading minerals for tech sounds encouraging, but the history of the African continent provides many cases where leaders care more about being recognised than about helping their people.
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Read also:
Somaliland, Sovereignty, and Strategy: When Recognition Becomes a Security Tool
Exclusive: Behind the Scenes, Somaliland
Guilty by Involvement: Britain, Berbera, and Red Sea Tensions
