Israel\u2019s Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said his country had been cooperating \u201cunder the radar\u201d with Somaliland for years, as he met with the breakaway African state\u2019s president.<\/p>\n
In December, Israel became the first country to recognise the independence of Somaliland since it declared its autonomy from Somalia in 1991 following a civil war.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael and Somaliland have a long-standing friendship based on shared interests, democratic values, and a commitment to security and stability. For many years we have cooperated under the radar in a series of activities that will remain secret,\u201d Katz said, according to a statement from his office.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow we are determined to bring our security cooperation to new heights \u2014 for the benefit of both peoples and for the stability of the region,\u201d he added, as he met with Somaliland\u2019s President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi.<\/p>\n
The meeting focused on ways to \u201cdeepen security, economic, and political cooperation between the countries\u201d, Katz\u2019s office said.<\/p>\n
Somaliland enjoys a strategic position on the Gulf of Aden and has its own currency, passport and army, but has struggled to win international recognition amid concerns in many capitals that this would provoke Somalia and encourage other separatist movements in Africa.<\/p>\n
Abdullahi arrived in Israel on Sunday for his first-ever state visit, during which Somaliland opened an embassy in Jerusalem.<\/p>\n
The visit comes just weeks after Israel appointed its first ambassador to Somaliland, a reciprocal move after Somaliland named its own envoy to Israel.<\/p>\n
Experts say the United Arab Emirates was a key player in Israel\u2019s recognition of Somaliland, and it is possible that Israeli forces are already present at the Berbera military base.<\/p>\n
If their presence were confirmed at the Emirati base, it could leave the port vulnerable to Yemen\u2019s Iran-backed Houthi rebels or Iranian missiles.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a widespread assumption that there is an Israeli military or security presence that is already in the country,\u201d a Western diplomat told AFP earlier this year on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n
Retired Israeli Brigadier General Amir Avivi told the Israel Defence and Security Forum in May that \u201cpeople are not aware but the Israeli navy has been operating in the area\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael is building capabilities in Somaliland\u2026 we have a base now,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Israel\u2019s Defence Minister Israel Katz on Wednesday said his country had been cooperating \u201cunder the radar\u201d with Somaliland…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191232,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,399,46,100524,43],"class_list":["post-497397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-il","tag-international","tag-israel","tag-mna","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=497397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/497397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=497397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=497397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=497397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}