Somalia Plans to Foment Conflict in Awdal Region After Israeli Recognition of Somaliland

We have a commitment to ensuring that our journalism is not locked behind a paywall. But the only way we can sustain this is through the voluntary support of our community of readers. If you are a free subscriber and you support our work, please consider upgrading to a paid subscription or gifting one to a friend or family member. You can also make a 501(c)(3) tax-deductible donation to support our work. If you do not have the means to support our work financially, you can do your part by sharing our work on social media and by forwarding this email to your network of contacts.

MOGADISHU, Somalia—The Somali government has plans to retaliate against Israeli’s recent recognition of the breakaway state of Somaliland, two senior intelligence officials from Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) told Drop Site. Mogadishu will support separatist movements inside Somaliland, they said, using the Somaliland government’s lack of control over the province of Awdal as an opportunity to empower local clans that oppose the government in Hargeisa—simultaneously weakening Somaliland and Israeli efforts to exert influence over the region.

On December 26, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Israel had formally recognized the breakaway region of Somaliland as an independent state, a decision that Netanyahu said came “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords.” Somaliland—a semi-autonomous region in northern Somalia that emerged during the 1990s civil war in Somalia—has sought international recognition for more than three decades. Prior to the move by Tel Aviv, its status had not been recognized by any other government; states have been wary of encouraging separatist movements that could unravel the status quo borders in the region and enable foreign states and groups to gain a foothold.

The Israeli decision triggered immediate outrage from the Somali federal government based in Mogadishu, which fiercely rejects Somaliland’s claims to independence. Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud denounced the recognition as “illegal aggression,” and a deliberate attack on Somalia’s sovereignty by Netanyahu, vowing to resist the move by “diplomatic, political, and legal means.”

Awdal is a region inside Somaliland where several local clans reject ties with Somaliland, and have sought to reunify with the federal government in Somalia. “The clans in Awdal are crucial