How did the BBC frame Israel’s Somaliland recognition?

[Deeq A.]

 

On December 26^th 2025 the BBC News website published a report on the topic of Israel’s freshly announced recognition of the Republic of Somaliland under the headline “Israel recognises Somaliland as independent state, Netanyahu says”.Credited to Tom McArthur and Abdirahman Ali Dhimbil, the report opens by telling readers that:“Israel has become the first country to formally recognise Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland as an independent nation.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel intended to immediately expand cooperation in agriculture, health, and technology. Somaliland’s president, Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, called the development “a historic moment”.”

On the topics of Somaliland and its history, readers find just three paragraphs:

“Somaliland has a strategic position on the Gulf of Aden, and has its own money, passports and police force. Born in 1991 after a war of independence against former dictator General Siad Barre, it has grappled with decades of isolation ever since.

With a population of almost six million, the self-proclaimed republic has recently been at the centre of several regional disputes involving Somalia, Ethiopia and Egypt.

Last year, an agreement between landlocked Ethiopia and Somaliland to lease a stretch of coastline for a port and military base angered Somalia.”

On December 30^th the BBC news website published an article by Wedaeli Chibelushi and Ameyu Etana of BBC Afaan Oromooand and Farah Lamane of BBC Somali headlined “Why Israel’s recognition of Somaliland as an independent state is controversial”.

The “controversial” framing is repeated in the article’s opening lines:

“Israel has taken the controversial decision to recognise the breakaway state of Somaliland as an independent nation, sparking condemnation from many other countries.

Israel became the first in the world to do so on Friday, more than 30 years after the region declared independence from Somalia.”

Somaliland’s history is described as follows: [emphasis added]

“A breakaway, semi-desert territory on the coast of the Gulf of Aden, Somaliland declared independence after the overthrow of Somali military dictator Siad Barre in 1991.

The move followed a secessionist struggle during which Siad Barre’s forces pursued rebel guerrillas in the territory. Tens of thousands of people were killed and towns were flattened.

Though not internationally recognised, Somaliland has a working political system, government institutions, a police force, and its own currency.

Its history as a distinct region of Somalia dates back to nineteenth century colonial rule. It was a British protectorate – known as British Somaliland – until it merged with Italian Somaliland in 1960 to form the Somali Republic.

Those in favour of Somaliland’s independence argue that the region is predominantly populated by those from the Isaaq clan – an ethnic difference from the rest of Somalia.

Also, Somaliland, home to roughly six million people, enjoys relative peace and stability. Its proponents argue that it should not be shackled to Somalia, which has long been wracked by Islamist militant attacks.”

The same article later promotes an inaccurate claim:

“A few months ago, a number of news outlets reported that Israel had contacted Somaliland over the potential resettlement of Palestinians forcibly removed from Gaza.

Israel did not comment on the reports, but at the time, Somaliland said that any move by Israel to recognise its independence would not have anything to do with the Palestinian issue. Both Somalia and the Palestinian Authority have suggested Israel’s recognition of Somaliland could be linked to a plan to displace Palestinians.”

On January 6^th the BBC News website published a report by Abdirahman Ali Dhimbil of BBC Somali and Wedaeli Chibelushi headlined “Israel’s foreign minister on historic visit to Somaliland” which also opens with promotion of the “controversial” framing.

“Israel’s foreign minister has held talks with Somaliland’s president on his first visit to the breakaway region since Israel controversially recognised it as an independent country.”

The sole portrayal of Somaliland’s history in that report reads as follows:

“Somaliland declared independence from Somalia in 1991, after the overthrow of Somali military dictator Siad Barre.”

Members of the BBC’s funding public looking for more information about Somaliland may be surprised to find that the corporation’s most recent profile was last updated in early January 2024, with no reason given for the announcement that “This page is no longer being updated”. That profile does however include a description similar to those appearing in the BBC’s recent reports. [emphasis added]

“A breakaway, semi-desert territory on the coast of the Gulf of Aden, Somaliland declared independence after the overthrow of Somali military dictator Siad Barre in 1991.

The move followed a secessionist struggle during which Siad Barre’s forces pursued rebel guerrillas in the territory. Tens of thousands of people were killed and towns were flattened.

Though not internationally recognised, Somaliland has a working political system, government institutions, a police force and its own currency.

The former British protectorate has also escaped much of the chaos and violence that plague Somalia.”

A report published by The Africa Watch Committee in January 1990 estimated that “the number of people killed during the past nineteen months […] is in the vicinity of 50,000 to 60,000”. An article published at The Nation in 2018 includes the following:

“Between 1987 and 1989, the regime of Somali dictator Siad Barre massacred an estimated 200,000 members of the Isaaq tribe, the largest clan group in the northwest part of Somalia. At the time, some Isaaqs were fighting for independence, and to eliminate the threat, Barre tried to exterminate all of them. Experts now say there are more than 200 mass graves in Somaliland, most of them in the Valley of Death.”

Yale University’s Genocide Studies Program defines those events as the Isaaq genocide. The Lemkin Institute put out a statement in 2022 which includes the following:

“A United Nations investigation concluded in 2001 that the killing of Isaaq individuals was a crime “conceived, planned and perpetrated by the Somali government” and therefore a breach of the Genocide Convention. The persecution resulted in the deaths of 50,000 to 250,000 members of the Isaac clan between 1987 and 1989. This genocide also caused almost the complete destruction of the second and third largest cities of Somalia, where the Isaaqs made up the majority: Hargeisa (90 percent destroyed) and Burao (70 percent destroyed). These events led 500,000 Somali individuals (primarily members of the Isaaq group) to flee their country and cross the border to Hartasheikh (Ethiopia) to seek shelter.

The Isaaq genocide was committed mainly in the region now called Somaliland, which declared independence from Somalia in 1991 in part to protect Isaaq clan members from further atrocities. The territory of Somaliland has been governed by a succession of democratically-elected governments that continuously and tirelessly seek international recognition as the independent Republic of Somaliland.”

As we see, the context of that genocide is not made adequately clear in the BBC’s recent portrayals of Somaliland’s declaration of independence or in its now archived profiles. That omission is of course particularly notable given that the BBC has repeatedly demonstrated over the past two years that it is not shy about using the word genocide in a different context.

Remarkably, the BBC chose to frame recognition of a democratic country which it acknowledges has a “working political system” and “its own currency” – as well as defined borders – as “controversial”. In contrast, BBC audiences saw no such framing when, in September 2025, the corporation extensively covered the recognition of a Palestinian state (which lacks such features and has not held elections for two decades) by the UK and other countries.

 

 

Qaran News