The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain did not join fellow Gulf states on Tuesday in condemning Somaliland’s plan to open a new embassy in Jerusalem, even as the move drew a wave of regional outrage. Somaliland’s ambassador to Israel, Mohamed Hagi, said the step followed Israel becoming the first and only state to recognise the breakaway Somali region in 2025.
Hagi said Israel would also establish its embassy in Hargeisa, calling it a reflection of “growing friendship, mutual respect, and strategic cooperation between our two peoples.”
The omission from Abu Dhabi and Manama stood out after foreign ministers from Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia condemned the opening of what they described as a purported embassy in occupied Jerusalem. Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, Pakistan, Indonesia, Djibouti, Somalia, Palestine, Sudan, Yemen, Lebanon, Mauritania, Algeria, Bangladesh and Morocco also denounced the move. The Gulf Cooperation Council’s secretary-general, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, said it was an “illegal and unacceptable step taken by the so-called Somaliland region in opening its purported embassy in occupied Jerusalem.”
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991, but the UN, the African Union and most governments still recognise it as part of Somalia. The territory’s relationship with the UAE dates back to 2017, when Somaliland’s government accepted an Emirati bid to establish a military base there. In January, Saudi Arabia accused the UAE of spiriting Yemeni separatist leader Aidarous al-Zubaidi out of Yemen to Somaliland before he travelled on to Abu Dhabi, and Somalia then severed the UAE’s commercial and military contracts in Somaliland after the allegations.
East Jerusalem is considered occupied under international law, and Israel seized control of the city from Jordan in the 1967 war. Most countries have refused to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, making any embassy move there a direct challenge to longstanding international positions. Somaliland officials have also discussed building an Israeli military base in the territory since Israel’s recognition, despite earlier denials from Hargeisa’s foreign ministry.
Middle East Eye contacted the UAE and Bahrain for clarification on their stance toward the embassy move and had received no response at the time of publication. That silence leaves open whether the two Gulf states are distancing themselves from the wider regional backlash or simply withholding comment on a dispute that now links Jerusalem, Hargeisa and the fragile politics of the Horn of Africa.
