MBABANE: Somalia has warned that its territory cannot be used as a launching pad for military operations, after two media reports suggest that said Israel is planning to establish a military base in the breakaway region of Somaliland, directly across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen, Aljazeera reported.
“Somalia does not want to see its territory pulled into external confrontations or used in ways that could further destabilise an already sensitive region,” Ali Omar, Somalia’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs, told Al Jazeera on Thursday.
The warning from Mogadishu comes after US outlet Bloomberg and Sweden’s public radio Ekot reported this week about Israeli plans for a military installation near the strategic port city of Berbera on the Gulf of Aden.
The reports come as the US‑Israeli war on Iran edges towards its second week, with the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed and the Houthis warning that they are prepared to enter the conflict.
In comments to Bloomberg, Somaliland’s presidency minister, Khadar Abdi, said Somaliland would pursue a “strategic relationship” with Israel that “encompasses a lot of things.” He added that the possibility of an Israeli base had not yet been discussed yet, but that it “will be analysed at some point.”
Omar said the “Federal Government is the only authority empowered to enter into international security or military arrangements on behalf of the country.”
“Any discussions about foreign military facilities on Somali territory that take place outside that framework simply have no legal standing,” he said.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but had not secured recognition from any UN member state until Israel’s move to recognise the breakaway region in December.
Somalia, however, continues to claim Somaliland, which has governed itself independently for more than three decades.
Ali Omar- Somalia’s State Minister for Foreign Affairs (pic: Somalia Foreign Affairs).