Overview
- Foreign ministers from more than 20 Arab and Muslim-majority countries, along with the OIC, condemned the January 6 visit by Israel’s foreign minister to Somaliland as illegal and urged Israel to revoke its recognition.
- The African Union Peace and Security Council denounced Israel’s recognition as a violation of Somalia’s sovereignty and called for its immediate reversal.
- Somalia’s government labeled Gideon Saar’s presence an unauthorized incursion and declared any official engagements without Mogadishu’s consent illegal, null, and void.
- Somaliland officials defended opening ties with Israel as a necessary step toward long-sought international recognition, saying the relationship is focused on diplomatic and economic aims.
- China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi is scheduled to arrive in Mogadishu to affirm support for Somalia, while a U.S. diplomat at the UN defended Israel’s right to conduct its own relations without the United States extending recognition.