Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Friday sharply condemned Israel’s decision to appoint an ambassador to the self‑declared Republic of Somaliland, calling the move null and void and a flagrant violation of Somalia’s sovereignty.
Israel announced the appointment on April 15. Somaliland, in Somalia’s northwest, has claimed independence since 1991 but is not internationally recognised.
Aboul Gheit said the step amounted to a dangerous escalation that contravened the UN Charter and international law, and stressed that it carried no legal effect.
His spokesman, Gamal Roshdy, recalled that Arab foreign ministers, in an emergency meeting on December 28, 2025, had categorically rejected any form of recognition or dealings with Somaliland outside the framework of Somalia’s federal authority.
Roshdy said Israel’s actions posed a direct threat to Arab national security and to stability in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Horn of Africa, describing them as an attempt to reshape the region’s geopolitical map in ways that could undermine navigation and global trade.
He added that Israel’s persistence in this approach reflected disregard for the rules of international law and a determination to pursue political, security and military goals above any legal or moral consideration. He reaffirmed that Somalis share a common history, identity and social fabric, and that Somalia has long chosen the path of a unified national state.
Aboul Gheit has sent letters to the UN secretary general, the president of the UN Security Council and the chair of the African Union Commission, urging the formation of a coordinated Arab‑African‑international response to counter what he described as a serious violation and attempts to destabilise the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea.
