Somaliland Rises while South Africa Declines |
Israel’s historic recognition of Somaliland as an independent sovereign state on December 26, 2025—the first by any UN member—demonstrates profound strategic foresight. Signed as a mutual declaration with Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi establishing full diplomatic relations in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, this agreement extends cooperation in agriculture, health, technology, economy, and counter-terrorism. It secures a democratic partner in the Horn of Africa, leveraging Berbera Port’s critical position at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to counter Houthi threats and Iranian proxies.
Somaliland’s de facto sovereignty since 1991—following the genocidal regime of Siad Barre, which slaughtered 50,000–200,000 Isaaq civilians with aid from figures like the father of US Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, a colonel in Barre’s army—fully meets the Montevideo Convention criteria: defined territory based on 1960 colonial borders, permanent population, effective government, and capacity for international relations. Somaliland has sustained democratic elections since 1991, stable governance without international aid, and trade hubs like Berbera, extending the Abraham Accords frameworks to the Horn. Ethiopia’s immediate follow-through on the 2024 memorandum of understanding for sea access secures Red Sea routes, thwarting Iranian-backed threats and underscoring Israel’s visionary counter to regional revanchist forces.
In contrast, South Africa’s foreign policy channels anti-Western aggression, aligning Pretoria with Iran, Russia, and China—regimes facing existential collapse. Iran, the ANC’s primary paymaster, is imploding under fiscal exhaustion, demographic unrest, and regional overreach, sponsoring proxy terrorism while funding South Africa’s anti-Israel campaigns at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The Iranian Rial depreciated by 99.99% from 70 to the dollar in 1979—when the Shah departed amid Islamist takeover—to approximately 1,450,000 to the dollar by December 2025, as Tehran’s isolation and corruption stripped economic viability, halving per capita income in real terms while inflation exceeded 40% annually, forcing regime change demands from a starved populace.
South Africa remains a vibrant democracy, with the ANC’s support continuing to decline—from around 40% in the 2024 national elections to figures in the low-to-mid 30s in many 2025 polls—clear evidence that voters are increasingly rejecting the party’s prioritization of controversial foreign policy alignments over the basic needs of the population. No major........