This is a translation (by Claude.ai, revised by the author) of an article I published in The Conversation France on 30 December.

Israel surprised the world by recognising Somaliland on Friday, 26 December. What are the reasons behind this unexpected announcement, and what outcomes is it likely to produce?

A Diplomatic Anomaly

The republic of Somaliland, formed in 1991, is independent in all but name, yet Israel is the first sovereign state to recognise it. For all other countries and international organisations, Somaliland remains under the authority of the Somali state, from which the republic seceded after a war with genocidal characteristics in the late 1980s.

Today, Somalia’s federal government, established with international support in 2012 after decades of civil war, is beset by attacks from Al-Shabaab and the Islamic State, suffers from corruption on a record scale and experiences persistently high levels of political instability. Federal Somalia still lacks a constitution, universal elections and several of its constitutive regions refuse to submit to the federal authorities. By contrast, Somaliland is a democratic and stable haven, with its own constitution, a reasonably functioning electoral political system, its own currency, and an army.

President Abdirahman Irro was undoubtedly in need of good news. After his victory on 13 November 2024, his government became bogged down in the clan conflicts it had inherited and made little progress on critical fronts such as youth employment, economic growth, and inflation. Following Israel’s announcement, jubilant crowds took to the streets of Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital.