Jeddah (Somalia Today) – The Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday condemned reported plans by Somaliland to open an embassy in Jerusalem, calling the move illegal and a violation of Somalia’s sovereignty and international law.
The Jeddah-based bloc said it had “grave concern and strong condemnation” over media reports that the breakaway Somali region intended to open what it called a so-called embassy in “occupied Al-Quds”, the Arabic name for Jerusalem.
The OIC said the reported move would amount to “flagrant defiance of the will of the entire international community” and a “grave violation” of the United Nations Charter and relevant UN resolutions.
The statement came after Somaliland’s representative to Israel said the region planned to open an embassy in Jerusalem, while Israel would establish a mission in Hargeisa, Somaliland’s capital.
Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 but has not won recognition from the United Nations, the African Union or the Arab League. Somalia regards Somaliland as part of its territory and rejects any foreign recognition of the region as a separate state.
Jerusalem row
The planned embassy has added a highly sensitive Middle East dimension to Somaliland’s decades-long campaign for international recognition.
Israel considers Jerusalem its capital, while Palestinians want East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state. Most countries keep their embassies in Tel Aviv because Jerusalem’s final status remains one of the core disputes in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The OIC accused Israel of pursuing “desperate and illegitimate attempts to extract false recognitions from illegitimate and internationally unrecognised entities”, including Somaliland.
It said the aim was to consolidate what it called Israel’s “illegitimate and purported sovereignty” over Jerusalem.
The OIC said Israel, “the occupying power”, had “no sovereignty over East Al-Quds (Jerusalem), the capital of the State of Palestine”.
It added that any measures aimed at altering the city’s “political, demographic, or geographical status” were “null and void under international law”.
The UN Security Council has repeatedly rejected unilateral changes to the status of Jerusalem. In 1980, Resolution 478 called on countries not to recognise Israel’s Jerusalem law and urged states with diplomatic missions in the city to withdraw them.
Somalia backing
The OIC said it stood in “full and absolute solidarity” with the Federal Republic of Somalia.
It also reaffirmed its “unwavering support” for Somalia’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and regional security.
The statement called on all countries to condemn and oppose the reported embassy plan and reject “any attempt to confer international legal status on an unrecognised separatist entity”.
It also urged pressure on Israel to comply with “resolutions of international legitimacy”.
Somalia has long opposed foreign dealings with Somaliland that appear to treat it as an independent state. Mogadishu says such moves undermine its unity and threaten regional stability in the Horn of Africa.
Somaliland, however, has built its own institutions, held elections and maintained relative stability compared with much of southern Somalia.
Its leaders argue that recognition is long overdue and have sought diplomatic openings with countries willing to engage Hargeisa directly.
Ties with Israel have become one of the most controversial parts of that campaign.
Recognition push
The reported Jerusalem embassy plan follows earlier Israeli moves to deepen relations with Somaliland, including statements backing closer political and diplomatic ties.
For Somaliland, the relationship offers a rare path toward formal international recognition.
For Israel, ties with Somaliland could strengthen its foothold near the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, a corridor that has grown more important amid maritime insecurity and regional competition.
But the OIC statement showed the diplomatic cost of that approach, particularly among Muslim-majority states and countries that strongly back the Palestinian cause.
The bloc’s language was unusually forceful, linking the Somaliland issue directly to the dispute over Jerusalem and accusing Israel of trying to use an unrecognised entity to legitimise its control over the city.
The move also risks hardening Somalia’s position against any foreign engagement with Somaliland.
Somalia is a member of the OIC and has consistently supported Palestinian statehood. It has no diplomatic relations with Israel and has historically aligned itself with Arab and Muslim positions on Jerusalem.
The latest dispute now places Somaliland at the centre of three overlapping issues: Somalia’s territorial unity, Israel’s search for new diplomatic partners and the wider Muslim world’s rejection of Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem.
For the OIC, the reported embassy plan was not only a challenge to Somalia’s sovereignty but also part of a broader effort to alter the legal and political status of Jerusalem.
The bloc said countries should oppose the move and reject any step that gives international standing to Somaliland as a separate state.
