Protests erupt across Somalia Israel officially recognized as world’s number one In the breakaway region of Somaliland, demonstrators took to the streets in several cities, including the capital Mogadishu.

Large crowds gathered around Mogadishu’s main football stadium and the city’s airport on Tuesday morning, with protesters waving Somali flags and chanting slogans calling for national unity.

Demonstrations also took place in Baidoa, Dusamareb, Ras Anod, Hobia and the northeastern region of Somalia, coinciding with President Hassan Sheikh Mohammed heading to Istanbul for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after a stop in neighboring Djibouti.

Somalia and Türkiye have close political and security ties, with Ankara emerging as a regional rival to Israel in recent months.

Small rallies were also held to express opposition in the western Somaliland city of Borama, where people appear more ambivalent about separating from Somalia.

Somaliland unilaterally declared independence in 1991 after a civil war but failed to gain international recognition despite retaining its own currency, passport and army.

Somaliland leaders say the country, the successor to the former British protectorate that voluntarily merged with Italian Somaliland, has regained its independence. Somalia continues to claim Somaliland as part of its territory and does not recognize its independence.

On Friday, Israel became the first and only country to formally recognize its sovereignty, saying the move was in line with the spirit of the Abraham Accords that normalized relations between Israel and several Arab countries.

President Mohammed urged Somaliland’s leadership over the weekend to reverse the decision, warning that its territory, which overlooks a strategic gateway to the Red Sea, must not be used as a base against other countries.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said any Israeli presence in Somaliland would be considered “a military target for our armed forces.”

Shortly after Somaliland announced mutual recognition with Israel on Friday, President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi said the move was “not a threat to any country or an act of hostility” and warned that Somalia’s insistence on unified institutions could “prolong divisions rather than bridge them.”

The widespread public anger in Somalia reflects a rare display of political unity, with leaders from all factions denouncing Israel’s decision.

On Monday, the National Consultative Council, chaired by Mohammed and including the prime minister, federal state presidents and regional governors, rejected the move as an “illegal step” that threatened security in the region from the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

The four federal member states issued a coordinated statement over the weekend condemning the move. However, Puntland and Jubaland, both of which recently announced their withdrawal from Somalia’s federal system amid electoral and constitutional disputes, have remained silent.

Most members of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) slam Israel recognized Somaliland at a meeting on Monday in response to a move that some countries said could also have serious implications for Palestinians in Gaza.

The United States was the only member of the 15-nation bloc that did not condemn Israel for formally recognizing it at an emergency meeting in New York on Monday, although it said its position on Somaliland had not changed.

Somalia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Abu Bakr Dahir Osman, warned that the recognition was “aimed at promoting the division of Somalia” and feared it could prompt forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza to northwestern Somalia, concerns shared by several other countries.

“This utter contempt for law and ethics must stop now,” he said.

Deputy U.S. Representative Tammy Bruce told the Security Council that “Israel has the same right to establish diplomatic relations as any other sovereign state,” although she added that Washington “has not declared” recognition of Somaliland.

Israel’s deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Jonathan Miller, defended the decision as “not a hostile step against Somalia” and recommended to the U.N. Security Council that other countries follow its lead.

Somalia’s Foreign Minister Ali Omar posted on X thanking UN Security Council members for their “clear and principled” stance on the issue.