Somaliland’s president called Donald Trump a “great man” who could make more history by recognizing the African nation, joining Israel after its late-2025 move.
President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, known as Irro, delivered that appeal in an exclusive late-September interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, pressing Washington to treat Somaliland as a democratic security partner rather than a petitioner for aid.
Speaking from a midtown Manhattan hotel suite, Abdullahi tied recognition to counterterrorism, anti-piracy work, and safer trade routes through a strategic stretch of coastline only 100 kilometers from Yemen. He said Israel’s formal recognition late in 2025 had already served as the “icebreaker,” and that the United States could now finish the job.
Breitbart News sat down with the Somaliland leader as he wrapped a week of meetings in Washington and New York. He left without a recognition pledge on the table, yet described the engagement as productive and cordial.
Abdullahi did not hedge on his view of the American president.
He told Breitbart:
"Well, I think President Trump is a great man,"
and continued:
"He made history, and he could make more history by recognizing a new country called Somaliland, which will cooperate unconditionally in the fight against terrorism, in the fight against piracy, in the fight for marine security, and safer world trade routes as well, in a strategic, very important location."
He went further on the Nobel front. Abdullahi said he may be the first African leader to put Trump forward for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing the president’s early record ending conflicts, including the long war between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
His words:
"I may be on the record that I am the first African leader to refer the president for a Nobel Peace Prize, because so far for the short time he has been in office, he has resolved many conflicts in the world,"
The pitch was straightforward. Recognition would lock in a partner that already secures its own waters and wants to work with the United States without conditions.
Abdullahi described a full week of U.S. outreach. He said his delegation met members of Congress, senators, and officials at the State Department, the Department of War, the Department of Energy, and the Department of the Treasury. He also spoke at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and met organizations and friendly countries.
“We had a very cordial, friendly reception in the United States,” he said. “We had a productive week in Washington.”
He was clear-eyed about the outcome. Recognition did not land during the trip. Still, he framed the talks as progress.
“We didn’t get the recognition now on the table, but hopefully things will move forward, and we make great progress, and we are satisfied with the level we have so far done,” Abdullahi said. “Well, we are actually satisfied with the level of engagement we had in the United States now.”
He added that counterterrorism discussions with the United States are already underway, and that Somaliland is ready to expand that work.
For three decades Somaliland has operated as a self-governing, relatively stable territory while Somalia struggled with corruption, terrorism, and piracy. Formal recognition remained scarce until Israel moved late in 2025.
Abdullahi called that decision decisive.
"I think I can say that the recognition by Israel of Somaliland was the icebreaker,"
He followed with a blunt assessment: “Now Somaliland is feasible to the whole world.”
In the same conversation he volunteered manpower for Gaza stabilization efforts linked to Board of Peace work associated with Jared Kushner and White House envoy Steve Witkoff. Asked what Somaliland could contribute, he answered directly.
"I told them we can provide 2,000 peacekeepers in Gaza. Yes, we are ready for that."
The offer fits the larger theme he kept repeating: Somaliland wants to be useful, not dependent.
Geography drives the case. Abdullahi placed Somaliland 100 kilometers from Yemen and argued that trouble in the Red Sea, the Houthis, and pressure on routes near Hormuz have raised the value of his coastline and the port of Berbera.
“For 35 years we have been single-handedly securing our waters, which is very important for the world global trade,” he said. Major shipping companies, he added, now divert cargo through Berbera for security reasons, then move goods onward to final destinations.
“Berbera, as I said, has a very strategic location, and now, because of the certain conditions in the world which now exist regarding the war, even some of the world’s largest shipping companies now use Berbera to bring their goods, and later they ship again to their destinations because of security reasons,” Abdullahi said. “So Berbera’s need and demand is increasing, and Berbera is a viable port that can handle large containers as well.”
He cast the port and the surrounding corridor as a logistics hub for landlocked Ethiopia, home to about 130 million people, and for wider East and Central Africa. The United States has used Somaliland ports before, he noted; so did the Russians in an earlier era. He sees room for a larger American role now.
“No doubt I see a great future cooperation of the United States and Somaliland,” he said, pointing to trade, security, counterterrorism, and national security as natural lanes for partnership.
Abdullahi closed with a message aimed at both American readers and the president. Somaliland, he insisted, did not travel to New York and Washington with a begging list.
"My last message is that we, as a Somalilander, we didn’t come here for a list of requests or aid,"
He continued: “We came with partnership. Somaliland is not for aid; it is not for handouts. Somaliland needs partnership in trade, in security, and economic cooperation. I think Somaliland can be part and parcel of making America great.”
He framed Africa as a growing economic arena, citing a $400 billion figure and pointing to minerals, energy, agriculture, and industry, and argued that a stable, pro-American partner on the Gulf of Aden serves U.S. interests as much as Somaliland’s.
His direct appeal to Trump stayed simple: recognize a democratic country that will fight terrorism and piracy without conditions, and lock in a security partner in a location the world is already watching.
“For the president again, my message to the president is that he can make history by recognizing Somaliland as a country, a democratic partner, a security partner who can cooperate unconditionally, fight against terrorism and piracy.”
Allies who secure their own waters, back Israel’s judgment, and offer troops for hard missions are rare. Washington would be wise not to keep this one waiting forever.
