Israeli foreign minister visits Somaliland after contentious recognition of breakaway territory

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — The Israeli foreign minister visited Somaliland in the Horn of Africa on Tuesday and promised Israel would foster flourishing ties as the first country to recognize the breakaway republic's independence from Somalia.

On his first official visit to Somaliland, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel would soon open an embassy and appoint an ambassador, despite broad international criticism over its decision to extend recognition to the territory, which most of the world considers part of Somalia.

“Nobody will determine for Israel who we recognize and who we maintain diplomatic relations with," Saar said, according to a transcript shared with The Associated Press.

Somaliland President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi said Tuesday’s visit “carries historic significance and marks and important milestone” for the two countries.

In an interview with The Associated Press, Somaliland’s foreign minister, Abdirahman Dahir Adan, said his country was “very grateful” for Israel’s recognition. He said the countries are natural partners, with both facing hostility from neighboring countries and a shared interest in security in the Red Sea.

“Israel is in a region where many of its neighbors are enemies. And Somaliland is in an area where many of their neighbors are hostile to them," he said, calling their struggles “very, very similar.”

Adan predicted other nations would follow Israel in recognizing Somaliland in the near future.

The territory lies along a major shipping lane across the Gulf of Aden from Yemen and is home to a port coveted by regional powers including Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates.

Israel's Dec. 26 decision to become the first country to recognize Somaliland was rejected by the African Union and others. Somalia said Tuesday that it “condemns in the strongest terms the unauthorized incursion,” describing Saar's visit to Somaliland as “an unacceptable interference in the internal affairs” of Somalia.

Video footage shared on social media purported to show fighter jets flying over Hargeisa, the Somaliland capital, during Saar's visit, but it was not immediately clear which country the aircraft belonged to.

Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991 during a descent into conflict that continues to leave the east African country fragile. Despite having its own government and currency, Somaliland had never before been recognized by any nation.

Somaliland’s Information Ministry said in a post on X that Saar and his delegation were received by senior members of the Somaliland Cabinet when they landed at the airport in Hargeisa, the capital. The ministry described the visit as a milestone in bilateral relations.

Somalia’s federal government insists Somaliland remains an integral part of Somali territory and warns that recognition undermines Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

More than 20 mostly Middle Eastern or African countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation rejected Israel’s move, though Ethiopia, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates — all key players in the region — did not.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty said in a statement Tuesday that Israeli recognition of Somaliland was a “dangerous precedent that threatens regional and international peace and security.”

U.S. and Israeli officials told The Associated Press last year that Israel had approached Somaliland about taking in Palestinians from Gaza as part of U.S. President Donald Trump’s plan at the time to resettle the territory’s population. Adan said on Tuesday that such a proposal had neither been discussed nor considered.

The U.S. has since abandoned that plan, and the State Department says it continues to recognize the territorial integrity of Somalia, “which includes the territory of Somaliland.”

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AP writers Sam Metz and Josef Federman contributed reporting from Jerusalem.

FILE - Opposition candidate Abdirahman Irro speaks to the media after casting his vote in the presidential election in Hargeisa, in the semi-autonomous region of Somaliland, in Somalia, Nov. 13, 2017. (AP Photo/Barkhad Dahir, File)

FILE - Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Saar speaks during a press conference after talks with his Serbian counterpart Marko Djuric in Belgrade, Serbia, Sept. 30, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)

PARIS (AP) — Brigitte Bardot's funeral will be held Wednesday with a private service in Saint-Tropez and a public homage at the French Riviera resort where she lived for more than half a century after retiring from movie stardom at the height of her fame.

The animal rights activist and far-right supporter died Dec. 28 at age 91 at her home in southern France.

Once one of the world’s most photographed women and a defining screen siren of the 1960s, the ceremony will take place at the Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption Catholic Church in the presence of guests invited by the family and the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals.

The service is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m., according to the foundation.

Local authorities said the ceremony will be broadcast live on large screens set up at the port and two plazas in the small town, allowing residents and admirers to follow the farewell.

After the church service, Bardot is to be buried “in the strictest privacy” at a cemetery overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, according to the Saint-Tropez town hall.

She had long called Saint-Tropez her refuge from the celebrity that once made her a household name.

A public homage will take place at a nearby site for admirers of the woman whose image once symbolized France’s postwar liberation and sensuality.

“Brigitte Bardot will forever be associated with Saint-Tropez, of which she was the most dazzling ambassador,” the town hall said last week. “Through her presence, personality and aura, she marked the history of our town.”

Bardot settled decades ago in her seaside villa, La Madrague, and retired from filmmaking in 1973 at age 39, during an international career that spanned more than two dozen films.

She later emerged as an animal rights activist, founding and sustaining a foundation devoted to the protection of animals.

While she withdrew from the film industry, she remained a highly visible and often controversial public figure through decades of militant animal rights activism and links with far-right politics.

She will be buried in the so-called marine cemetery, where her parents are also interred.

The cemetery, overlooking the Mediterranean sea, is also the final resting place of several cultural figures, including filmmaker Roger Vadim, Bardot’s first husband, who directed her breakout film “And God Created Woman,” a role that made her a worldwide star.

People walk in. Street leading to Notre-Dame de l'Assomption church before Brigitte Bardot's funeral ceremony, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026 in Saint-Tropez, southern France. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)

A police officer signs the condolence book outside Notre-Dame de l'Assomption church before Brigitte Bardot's funeral ceremony, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026 in Saint-Tropez, southern France. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)

A woman carries a bouquet of flowers reading" BB, memory of an eternal animals lover" outside Notre-Dame de l'Assomption church before Brigitte Bardot's funeral ceremony, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2026 in Saint-Tropez, southern France. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)

Flowers lay at actor Brigitte Bardot's home in Saint-Tropez, southern France, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025 after the French 1960s sex symbol who became one of the greatest screen sirens of the 20th century and later a militant animal rights activist and far-right supporter, has died. She was 91. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)

A woman lays flowers at actor Brigitte Bardot's home in Saint-Tropez, southern France, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025 after the French 1960s sex symbol who became one of the greatest screen sirens of the 20th century and later a militant animal rights activist and far-right supporter, has died. She was 91. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)

FILE - Former French film star and animal right activist Brigitte Bardot acknowledges applause prior to a press conference, Sept. 28, 2006 in Paris. (AP Photo/Remy de la Mauviniere, File)

FILE - French actress Brigitte Bardot poses with a huge sombrero she brought back from Mexico, as she arrives at Orly Airport in Paris, France, on May 27, 1965. (AP Photo/File)