Somalia rejected Israel’s accreditation of an ambassador to Somaliland and the laying of a cornerstone for an embassy in Hargeisa, calling the moves violations of its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Somalia’s Foreign Ministry said the steps had been taken without the consent of the federal government and declared them “null and void and without legal effect.” Israel’s first ambassador to Somaliland, Michael Lotem, presented his credentials to Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi Irro in Hargeisa last week, and a cornerstone ceremony for a future Israeli embassy followed. Israel formally recognized Somaliland on December 26, 2025, becoming the first United Nations (UN) member state to do so since Somaliland’s 1991 declaration of independence, and no other has followed. The Somali government called on Israel to reverse the measures and urged countries and international organizations not to take any steps that could legitimize them.