{"id":474718,"date":"2025-12-27T09:47:23","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T09:47:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/474718\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T09:47:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T09:47:23","slug":"exclusive-trump-not-ready-to-embrace-somaliland-independence-unlike-netanyahu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/474718\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | Trump not ready to embrace Somaliland independence \u2014 unlike Netanyahu"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump told The Post that he won\u2019t quickly follow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recognizing the independence of Somaliland \u2014 saying he has to \u201cstudy\u201d his longtime Mideast ally\u2019s pitch on behalf of the breakaway republic.<\/p>\n

Israel on Friday became the world\u2019s first country to recognize Somaliland\u2019s split from anarchic Somalia and Netanyahu vowed to deliver a message to Trump, with whom he is meeting Monday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll communicate to President Trump your willingness and desire to join the Abraham Accords,\u201d Netanyahu told Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi in a video call celebrating the diplomatic breakthrough.<\/p>\n

President Trump said Friday that he\u2019s not likely to recognize Somaliland\u2019s independence after Israel became the first country to do so. AP<\/p>\n

But Trump said that he wasn\u2019t swayed and expects his talks with Netanyahu will prioritize the Gaza Strip, where Trump brokered an October cease-fire <\/a>and now chairs a United Nations-approved Board of Peace to oversee implementation and reconstruction.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust say, \u2018No, comma, not at this\u00a0\u2014,’\u201d Trump told The Post in a phone interview, before modifying his answer on recognizing Somaliland\u00a0to: \u201cJust say, \u2018No.’\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDoes anyone know what Somaliland is, really?\u201d Trump asked aloud from his golf course in West Palm Beach.<\/p>\n

Trump sounded unimpressed by the Muslim-majority state offering to join the Abraham Accords \u2014 through which Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the UAE established relations with Israel \u2014 and equally unimpressed by Somaliland\u2019s offer of land for a US naval base near the mouth of the Red Sea.<\/p>\n

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said ahead of meeting Monday with Trump that he would champion the breakaway state\u2019s cause. AP<\/p>\n

Asked about Somaliland\u2019s offer to the US of a port on the strategically important Gulf of Aden, Trump dismissively replied, \u201cBig deal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is under study,\u201d the president added.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll study it. I study a lot of things and always make great decisions and they turn out to be correct.\u201d<\/p>\n

Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi spoke Friday with Netanyahu. REUTERS<\/p>\n

Gen. Dagvin Anderson, the chief of U.S. Africa Command, visited Somaliland last month, buoying local hopes for a deal with the US, as some of Trump\u2019s key MAGA loyalists rally behind the little-known region.<\/p>\n

One of Trump\u2019s most ardent allies in Congress, Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) is the sponsor of the \u201cRepublic of Somaliland Independence Act,\u201d with cosponsors including Reps. Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.), Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.).<\/p>\n

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Trump has spent recent weeks railing against Somalia and its citizens ripping off US taxpayers in Minnesota, where state government officials have pinned the blame on Democratic Gov. Tim Walz, then-Vice President Kamala Harris\u2019 running mate in last year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

Somaliland, a former British protectorate, has been de facto independent of the formerly Italian-ruled bulk of Somalia since 1991 and has built a relatively stable democracy with peaceful transitions of power \u2014 unlike the Mogadishu-based central government, which has been beset by civil war.<\/p>\n

A view of the city of Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland. AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Somaliland comprises the territory of the former British Somaliland and has been de facto independent since 1991. Associates Press Photo<\/p>\n

Mogadishu is the birthplace of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), who opposes autonomy<\/a> for the northern region, declaring, \u201cAs long as I\u2019m in Congress, no one will take over the seas belonging to the nation of Somalia.\u201d<\/p>\n

The breakaway nation has strong relations with neighboring Ethiopia and the UAE, but other countries such as Egypt and Turkey advocate against its independence.<\/p>\n

Trump said in August that he was considering granting Somaliland recognition, saying at the time: \u201cWe\u2019re looking into that right now. Good question, actually. And another complex one, as you know. But we\u2019re working on that right now \u2014 Somaliland.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON \u2014 President Trump told The Post that he won\u2019t quickly follow Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":474719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,372,69,99,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,80,73283,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-474718","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-benjamin-netanyahu","10":"tag-donald-trump","11":"tag-israel","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-city","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkcity","16":"tag-ny","17":"tag-nyc","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-somalia","20":"tag-united-states","21":"tag-united-states-of-america","22":"tag-unitedstates","23":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","24":"tag-us","25":"tag-us-news","26":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115790902073650811","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=474718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/474719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}