Somaliland backs UK over Falklands, warns London is losing vital African foothold to rivals

HARGEISA (Somaliguardian) – Somaliland has firmly rejected assertions that it backs Argentina’s claim over the Falkland Islands, with President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdillahi using a rare diplomatic intervention to reassure London of his administration’s support for British sovereignty over the Atlantic territory.

Speaking in an interview with the Telegraph at the presidential palace in Hargeisa, the Somaliland leader deployed the strategic reassurance as part of a sharp critique of British foreign policy. Abdillahi – universally known as “Irro” – accused the United Kingdom of maintaining double standards by refusing to grant formal recognition to the self-declared state, warning that London’s diplomatic paralysis is ceding a vital Horn of Africa foothold to global rivals.

“Western nations have rapidly moved to recognize states like Palestine under geopolitical pressure, while completely ignoring Somaliland’s 35-year record of democratic stability,” Abdillahi said. He argued that because Somaliland was a British protectorate before its brief independence and subsequent unification with Somalia in 1960, London carries a “moral and political responsibility” to pioneer its international integration.

The alignment with British sovereign sensibilities on the Falklands comes amid a rapid realignment of Somaliland’s foreign defense and commercial relations. Abdillahi confirmed that a contingent of 50 Somaliland special forces troops recently returned to Hargeisa after completing advanced military training in Tel Aviv. Highlighting the scale of the budding alliance, a visiting Israeli delegation presented the Somaliland leader with a physical fragment of an Iron Dome missile interceptor – a symbolic token of Jerusalem’s commitment to the enclave’s defense.

Despite fury from the federal government in Mogadishu and formal condemnation from over a dozen Muslim-majority nations, Hargeisa is pressing forward with a planned state visit by Abdillahi to Israel and the opening of a representative office in Jerusalem.

The strategic maneuvering highlights an intensifying competition for influence in the Horn of Africa as world powers rush to secure assets commanding the Bab al-Mandab strait – a maritime chokepoint handling up to 15 percent of global trade, currently menaced by Houthi drone and missile strikes.

While British diplomats remain sidelined by fears of upsetting the fragile federal government in Mogadishu, competitors are aggressively building out regional infrastructure. Dubai-based ports operator DP World has deployed $442 million to upgrade the deep-water port at Berbera, transforming it into a premier gateway for East African trade. A maritime transit deal with landlocked Ethiopia is expected to boost the port’s cargo volume by 40 percent.

Berbera also hosts an Emirati-built military complex boasting one of the longest runways in Africa, positioned directly across the Gulf of Aden from Houthi-controlled Yemen. Intelligence sources indicate that Washington is actively looking at territory in Somaliland to establish an alternative or supplementary military base to counter Chinese expansion in neighboring Djibouti.

Hargeisa is additionally opening its domestic markets to external security and resource extraction firms. Israeli technology company VisiRight has been contracted to manage advanced port and border security, while advanced concessions are being drawn up for gold and rare earth minerals. Turkey, meanwhile, has locked down extensive military and economic pacts further south, effectively turning the federal government of Somalia into a client state.

Though Somaliland has contained Islamist militants and maritime piracy within its borders for nearly a generation, its ambitions face internal friction. Jihadi groups have successfully seized stretches of territory along remote border zones, and a long-standing frontier dispute with the neighboring autonomous region of Puntland continues to complicate its claims to absolute, undisputed territorial authority.

Diplomatic observers warn that by sticking to decades of diplomatic hesitation, Britain is watching from the sidelines while China, the United Arab Emirates, Israel, and the United States carve up the military and trading infrastructure of the Red Sea.

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