Egypt’s FM flies to Jeddah to participate in OIC extraordinary meeting on Somalia

CAIRO – 10 January 2026: Dr. Badr Abdelatty, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigration, and Egyptian Expatriate Affairs, traveled to Jeddah on Saturday, January 10, 2026, to participate in the extraordinary session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to discuss developments in the Federal Republic of Somalia.

During the meeting, the Foreign Minister is scheduled to deliver Egypt’s statement and hold a series of bilateral meetings with a number of officials on the sidelines of the session.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Algeria, Bangladesh, Comoros, Djibouti, Gambia, Indonesia, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Maldives, Nigeria, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Turkey, and Yemen, along with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, have strongly condemned an Israeli official’s illegal visit to Somaliland, a region of the Federal Republic of Somalia, on Jan. 6.

In a joint statement issued Thursday, the group said the visit constitutes a clear violation of Somalia’s sovereignty, unity, and territorial integrity, breaches international law and the U.N. Charter, and encourages dangerous separatist agendas.

Earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement declaring Israel’s official recognition of the “Republic of Somaliland” as an independent and sovereign state. Netanyahu was quoted by Reuters as saying that the move was “in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, signed at the initiative of President Donald Trump.”

In March, American and Israeli officials told the Associated Press that the United States and Israel had discussed with three African parties - Sudan, Somalia, and Somalia’s breakaway region of Somaliland - proposals related to relocating Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territories to African territories.