Somaliland inaugurated its embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, during a state visit by President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi .
A first in the history of relations between the two countries. "It is an honor to welcome my dear friend President Irro to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs," said Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on X, expressing his satisfaction at having "written the first pages" of this rapprochement.
Somaliland thus becomes the eighth country to establish its diplomatic mission in Jerusalem, after the United States, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, and Fiji. The vast majority of foreign missions in Israel remain in Tel Aviv, as the status of Jerusalem remains one of the most sensitive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
This opening comes a few months after Israel became, in December, the first state to recognize the independence of Somaliland, a territory that proclaimed its autonomy from Somalia in 1991, at the end of a civil war.
