Somaliland denies relations with Israel

GOOBJOOG NEWS|HARGEISA: The Somaliland government has rubbished reports published by The Times of Israel that the Somaliland Minister of Defense attended a conference on African-Israeli relations in France.

A statement from the Somaliland Ministry of Defense denied the report in a July 9 edition of The Times of Israel that the Somaliland Defense Minister Abdiqani Mohamud Aateye had attended a conference organized by the Israeli embassy in France in May.

“Unfounded reports have been published in The Times of Israel that the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Somaliland attended a meeting on cooperation between Israel and African countries, which is a clear lie and will not be witnessed,” said the ministry in a statement.

The ministry further said that Minister Aateye was part of the organizing committee for the May 18th National Day event and could not have probably attended the conference organized by the Israeli embassy at the same time.

Somaliland and Israel have no diplomatic relations, however, an Israeli outlet reported that the Somaliland President, Muse Abdi, recently told US officials that he was making overtures to Israel but without any response.