Somalia rejects Israeli ambassador and embassy in Somaliland
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Radio Dalsan
Somalia declares null and void Michael Lotem’s appointment as Israel’s ambassador to Somaliland and plans for an embassy in Hargeisa. The Somali Foreign Ministry says the decisions violate the country’s sovereignty and calls on Israel to cancel them, according to Radio Dalsan.
Somalia has declared null and void, and without legal effect, Israel’s appointment of its first ambassador to Somaliland and the planned establishment of an Israeli embassy in Hargeisa. Somalia’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday that the decisions had been taken without the consent of the federal government and violated Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, Radio Dalsan reports.
Israeli ambassador Michael Lotem presented his credentials to Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi Irro in Hargeisa last week. Israeli and Somaliland authorities also laid the foundation stone for the future embassy, according to Radio Dalsan.
Mogadishu considers Somaliland, a region that declared its independence from Somalia in 1991, to remain part of its territory and says it cannot establish independent diplomatic relations. Israel recognised Somaliland on 26 December 2025, becoming the first UN member state to do so, according to Radio Dalsan.
Somalia is calling on Israel to cancel the decisions and urging the international community not to recognise measures that could undermine its territorial integrity. It warns that the development could increase tensions around the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden.
