Somaliland President Makes First Official Visit to Israel

A historic and unusual visit took place in Jerusalem on Sunday, when Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi arrived in Israel for an official trip and visited Mount Herzl with his wife, Fardosa Mohamed Roble. The couple held a formal ceremony at the grave of Theodor Herzl, where they laid a wreath. They were accompanied by Gal Greenwald, deputy chairman of the World Zionist Organization.

The visit was presented as politically significant and a sign of deepening ties and growing international interest in Jerusalem. It came after a February visit to Israel by an official delegation from the Republic of Somaliland, the first such visit from the breakaway region.

Israel recognized Somaliland as an independent and sovereign state in December, making it the first country to do so. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the decision was made “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, initiated by President Trump.”

Somaliland, a region in Somalia, is not internationally recognized as a state, though it has functioned as one since declaring unilateral independence in 1991. In recent months, it was mentioned as a possible destination for the deportation of Palestinians from Gaza in exchange for recognition, a claim Somaliland denied.