Somalia has warned that its territory cannot be used as a launching pad for military operations, after two media reports said Israel is planning to establish a military base in the breakaway region of Somaliland, directly across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen.
“Somalia does not want to see its territory dragged into external confrontations or used in ways that could further destabilize an already sensitive region,” Ali Omar, Somalia’s foreign minister, told Al Jazeera on Thursday.
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Mogadishu’s warning comes after US media outlet Bloomberg and Swedish public radio Ekot reported this week on Israeli plans for a military facility near the strategic port city of Berbera in the Gulf of Aden.
The reports come as the US-Israel war against Iran heads into its second week, with the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed and the Houthis warning they are prepared to enter the conflict.
In comments to Bloomberg, Somaliland Presidency Minister Khadar Abdi said Somaliland would pursue a “strategic relationship” with Israel that “encompasses many things.” He added that the possibility of an Israeli base has not yet been discussed, but that “it will be analyzed at some point.”
Omar said that “the Federal Government is the only authority empowered to enter into international security or military agreements on behalf of the country.”
“Any discussion of foreign military installations on Somali territory that takes place outside that framework simply has no legal basis,” he said.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but had not gained recognition from any UN member state until Israel’s decision to recognize the breakaway region in December. Somalia, however, continues to claim Somaliland, which has been governed independently for more than three decades.
Somaliland officials have not disclosed what was agreed with Israel when they established full diplomatic relations in December.
On January 1, its Foreign Ministry flatly denied accusations by the Somali government that military deals with Israel were being discussed, insisting that its engagement with Israel was “purely diplomatic.” Shortly after, a ministry official told Israel’s Channel 12 that a base was “on the table and under discussion.”
In February, Khadar Hussein Abdi, minister in the presidency of Somaliland, told the AFP news agency that he “could not rule out” allowing Israel to establish a military presence.
Israel recognized Somaliland as an independent state on December 26, becoming the first country to do so after more than three decades of failed attempts by the breakaway region.
The Somali minister’s comments come as the war between the United States and Israel against Iran intensifies. The Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and gas supplies transit, has been effectively closed amid Iranian threats of attacks on shipping.
Elsewhere in the region, Israel has stepped up attacks on Lebanon, killing at least 687 people and wounding more than 1,500, according to Lebanese authorities. It launched the attacks last Monday after the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah, a close ally of Iran, fired rockets in retaliation for the US and Israeli assassination of former Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Yemen’s Houthis, another key ally of Tehran, have so far not been directly involved in the war but have said they are prepared to enter the conflict.
The group, which controls northern, western and central Yemen, had previously warned against an Israeli presence in Somaliland, describing it as a “hostile posture” and a “legitimate target.”
Amid growing interest in shipping routes in the Middle East, attention has also focused on the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a narrow waterway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, through which about 12 percent of global trade passes.
Yemen’s Houthis have previously applied a blockade on Israeli-linked ships in the area in support of Palestinians in Gaza during Israel’s genocidal war.
The U.S. Embassy in Djibouti this week repeated a warning to U.S. citizens against approaching Camp Lemmonier, the largest U.S. base in Africa, a sign of concern that the conflict could spread.
“The Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are critical corridors for global trade and regional security, and instability there affects the entire Horn of Africa,” Omar told Al Jazeera.
“When regional tensions rise, civilian populations are always the most vulnerable,” Omar told Al Jazeera, adding that “measures that could expose Somali communities to unnecessary risks or drag them into broader geopolitical conflicts are not in the interest of our people.”
