RIYADH: Israel\u2019s recognition of Somaliland and its presence in the region risks inflaming the situation there, allowing terrorist groups to undermine regional security and stability, according to Somali Information, Culture and Tourism Minister Daud Aweis Jama.<\/p>\n
In a special interview with Arab News, Jama insisted that Israel\u2019s unprecedented Dec. 26 move to recognize Somaliland as a sovereign state represents a major setback for Mogadishu\u2019s fight against terrorist organizations like Al-Shabab and Daesh.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe presence of Israel will be used by the terrorist groups to expand their operations in the region. (They will) have a pretext to spread their ideologies in the region,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is another factor that is also risking global security and regional stability, because we have been in the last stage of overcoming the challenges of the terrorist groups Al-Shabab and ISIS,\u201d he added, using another term for Daesh.<\/p>\n
Jama added: \u201cWe have been putting all our resources and all our time into making sure that we finalize the final stages of the fight against Al-Shabab. So, if something else interrupts us, that means that we are not going to focus fully on the operations against Al-Shabab. And that means we are giving more opportunities to Al-Shabab or other organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n
The consequences of this hit to Somalia\u2019s ability to fight terror will not be restricted to the country\u2019s borders, according to Jama, but will spread across the region and beyond.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis might invite other, external terrorist groups to the region, because they will take advantage of this crisis and will make sure that they take over all the areas that have been defeated before,\u201d the minister said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe this has come at a time that is going to affect our security as a Somali government, the security of the Horn of Africa, the security of the Gulf of Aden, the security of the Red Sea, the security of the Middle East and global stability. This is a very important location that holds the trade of the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
The minister underlined that Israel\u2019s recognition and larger presence in the region are leading to more challenges, \u201cputting more fuel on the ongoing challenges that exist in the region, especially in Somalia.\u201d He added: \u201cAnd at this time, it is not only limited to Somalia, but it\u2019s going to be a challenge that is going to spread like a fire all over the region and all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n
Jama told Arab News that Israel has other strategic motives for its recognition of Somaliland \u2014 including the forced resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza.<\/p>\n
\u201cAccording to reliable sources that our intelligence gathered, one of the conditions that Israel put forward (for recognizing Somaliland) was to have a place that they can settle the people from Gaza,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe find that it is a violation also of the people of Palestine, because we believe that the people of Palestine have the right to self-determination. The two-state solution that has been the call of the international community has to be adhered to and implemented.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s coalition government, the most right-wing \u200cand religiously conservative in its history, includes far-right politicians who advocate the \u200dannexation of both Gaza and the West \u200dBank and encouraging Palestinians to leave their homeland.<\/p>\n
Somalia\u2019s UN Ambassador Abukar Dahir Osman said \u200dSecurity Council members Algeria, Guyana, Sierra Leone and Somalia \u201cunequivocally reject any steps aimed at advancing this objective, including any attempt by Israel to relocate the Palestinian population from Gaza to the northwestern region of Somalia.\u201d<\/p>\n
Israel last month became the first country to recognize Somaliland as an independent nation. In the three-plus decades since its self-declaration of independence in 1991, no state had recognized the northwestern territory as being separate from Somalia.<\/p>\n
Mogadishu immediately rejected the Israeli move, alongside countries all over the world.<\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia affirmed its rejection of any attempts to impose parallel entities that conflict with the unity of Somalia. It also affirmed its support for the legitimate institutions of the Somali state and its keenness to preserve the stability of Somalia and its people.<\/p>\n
A group of foreign ministers from Arab and Islamic countries, alongside the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, also firmly rejected Israel\u2019s announcement. In a joint statement, the ministers warned that the move carries \u201cserious repercussions for peace and security in the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea region\u201d and undermines international peace and security.<\/p>\n
The 22-member Arab League rejected \u201cany measures arising from this illegitimate recognition aimed at facilitating forced displacement of the Palestinian people or exploiting northern Somali ports to establish military bases,\u201d the organization\u2019s UN Ambassador Maged Abdelfattah Abdelaziz told the UN Security Council.<\/p>\n
In the most recent development in Israel-Somaliland relations, less than two weeks after Tel Aviv\u2019s recognition, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar visited the region on Tuesday to publicly formalize diplomatic relations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a blatant violation of Somalia\u2019s sovereignty that Israel recognized a region within the Somali Federal Republic as an independent state,\u201d Jama underlined. \u201cThat was a total violation of international laws. It was a violation of the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Somalia.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the beginning, our path was to follow diplomatic efforts. And we kind of started with a successful UN Security Council meeting that supported Somalia\u2019s territorial integrity and sovereignty. (This was) followed by other international actors like the Arab League, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the African Union and regional bodies like the East African Community and IGAD.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlso, the Peace and Security Council of the African Union has reiterated the importance of supporting Somali sovereignty and territorial integrity.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
RIYADH: Israel\u2019s recognition of Somaliland and its presence in the region risks inflaming the situation there, allowing terrorist groups to undermine regional security and stability, according to Somali Information, Culture and Tourism Minister Daud Aweis Jama. In a special interview with Arab News, Jama insisted that Israel\u2019s unprecedented Dec. 26 move to recognize Somaliland as …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":91977,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91958","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91958"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91978,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91958\/revisions\/91978"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91977"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}