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- INTRODUCTION
Since Somaliland declared its independence in 1991, there has been no recognition of its statehood. However, after 34 years, this is no longer the case. On 26 December 2025, Israel announced the establishment of full diplomatic relations with Somaliland, causing the world to turn its attention to a forgotten region that has witnessed complex realities and dynamics in recent decades.
With the partition of Africa at the end of the 19th century, Western powers drew up borders according to colonial interests, in most cases without taking into account previous political organisations or ethnic and cultural identities. The Somali people (Soomaali) who inhabited the Soomaaliya region were one of the largest and most visible peoples in the Horn of Africa. This place name was appropriated by Western powers to establish three Somalias: French Somalia (now Djibouti), British Somalia (corresponding to the north-west of the current Somali state) and Italian Somalia (corresponding mainly to the south and centre of that same state). At the time, other ethnic groups such as the Afar, the Bantu and certain Arab communities already coexisted alongside the Somali people in the territory of the three Somalias….
