Somalia said Israel’s appointment of an ambassador to Somaliland and a cornerstone ceremony for a planned embassy lacked federal consent, adding to a dispute over the territory’s status.
Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation said Tuesday that the actions had no legal effect because Mogadishu had not approved them. The ministry said Hargeisa and the wider Somaliland region belong to the Federal Republic of Somalia, which rejects Somaliland’s claim to independence.
Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a Nov. 1 announcement that Ambassador Michael Lotem had presented his credentials to Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi the previous week. The ministry said that after Lotem presented his credentials the previous week, a cornerstone was laid for a planned Israeli embassy in Hargeisa.
Somalia’s ministry called the appointment purported and said the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations requires a sovereign state’s consent to establish diplomatic relations and permanent missions. It said the convention supported Somalia’s position that the measures lacked federal authorization.
The ministry urged Israel to reverse the actions and called on other governments and international organizations to avoid steps that could legitimize them. It said Somalia reserved the right to respond through diplomatic, political and legal means. “The unity of the Somali nation is not negotiable,” the ministry said.
Somalia’s statement described the moves as following Israel’s recognition of Somaliland in December 2025. Israel’s ministry presented the ambassador exchange as part of a mutual-recognition agreement. Somaliland declared independence in 1991, a move Somalia rejects.
China and Djibouti have also backed Mogadishu’s territorial claim in a joint statement on Somaliland’s status.
