Say what you will about Benjamin Netanyahu, but he has a talent for catching audiences off guard. On 26 December, in a move almost no one anticipated, he formally recognised the Republic of Somaliland as a sovereign state. Israel is thus the first country to extend formal recognition to the fledgling nation, issued “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords” and, according to Netanyahu, at the direct behest of President Donald Trump.

Somaliland was a British protectorate from 1884 until it gained its independence in 1960 before voluntarily uniting with Somalia that same year. On 18 May 1991, following the collapse of the Somali state due to the disastrous and ultimately genocidal policies of the Siyad Barre government, Somaliland unilaterally declared independence, severed its ties with Mogadishu, and established its own system of government. For nearly three decades, Somaliland has received neither the international protection nor the large-scale aid and concessional lending extended to other embryonic postcolonial states.

Whereas many now consider Somalia a “functional failed state” plagued by warlordism, rampant corruption, prolonged tribal warfare, and sexual violence, Somaliland has emerged as a comparatively successful model of grassroots state-building. Since 1991, the aspiring state has overseen four presidential transitions through competitive elections and largely peaceful transfers of power. It has adopted a formal zero-tolerance stance toward the practice of female genital mutilation and has cultivated a private-sector-led economy sustained by diaspora remittances, domestic entrepreneurship, and relative internal stability: an unusual combination in the Horn of Africa.

“I am the happiest person in the world today,” declared President Abdullahi in his state address—a sentiment that has since resonated across Somalilander diaspora communities around the world. Predictably, the move has provoked significant backlash, not least from neighbouring Somalia. President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud denounced the recognition as a “naked invasion” and called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council. 

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Between the jihad of the “Hamas of Africa” and the new order of the Abraham Accords, the choice in Sudan should be clear.

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On the surface, Israel and Somaliland share very little beyond their emergence from the upheavals of the post–Second World War British colonial order, and there is scant public record of direct engagement between them prior to this week. So why was Netanyahu so eager to support Somaliland’s statehood?