In a bold geopolitical stroke, state of Somaliland has formally invited the United States to utilize a naval base near the Bab al-Mandab Strait and gain priority rights to its deposits of rare earth minerals in exchange for full diplomatic recognition as a sovereign state.
This initiative, made public by Somaliland leaders in senior bilateral negotiations in Hargeisa at the close of July 2025, represents a fresh chapter in regional strategic thinking. It is presented against the background of increasing international competition for shipping bottlenecks and strategic minerals, and after years of stalled international recognition of Somaliland since it unilaterally declared independence from Somalia in 1991.
At the heart of Somaliland’s bid is Berbera, the port city of the Gulf of Aden just 150 nautical miles from the Bab al-Mandab Strait one of the globe’s busiest and most sensitive maritime chokepoints. About 10% of global trade, which involves oil shipments and merchant traffic between Europe and Asia, passes through the strategic corridor connecting the Red Sea to the Arabian Sea.
Somaliland government has proposed that the United States establish a permanent naval and logistics presence at or near the Berbera port, which is itself being upgraded considerably under a UAE-brokered investment deal with DP World. The government asserts that an American base would help secure the sea lanes of the Horn of Africa, resist piracy and Iranian advances, and discourage Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes.
“Somaliland offers peace, stability, and geography. We are the safest and most democratic region,” said Foreign Minister Essa Kayd at a press conference. “We are ready to be America’s strategic ally in the Horn of Africa if the U.S. would just recognize the reality of our independence.”
Besides the base, Somaliland is also opening up its near-unused reserves of rare earth elements (REEs) a family of minerals crucial to the global tech, defense, and renewable energy industries. The minerals are required for making smartphones, electric vehicles, wind turbines, smart bombs and semiconductors.
China currently controls over 60% of global rare earth production and over 85% of processing capacity. Western nations have grown increasingly concerned about this dependence, especially with tensions between the U.S. and China continuing to escalate. Somaliland’s proposal is designed to establish the country as a stable, democratic source of these strategic materials.
According to a 2024 report by the British Geological Survey, Somaliland has potential deposits of dysprosium, praseodymium, and neodymium minerals that are essential in high performance magnets used by the defense industry and clean tech.
Somaliland’s application is the result of a decades long struggle for international recognition. Having conducted its own government, currency, armed forces, and elections for over three decades, Somaliland remains internationally categorized as an autonomous region of Somalia. Taiwan alone officially has diplomatic relations with Hargeisa.
Previously, U.S. policymakers have in private recognized Somaliland’s stability and record of government compared to the remainder of Somalia. Official recognition has been too diplomatically risky to consider for long, however, with Washington’s official support of Somalia’s territorial integrity and the African Union’s aversion to establishing a precedent for re-drawing post-colonial borders.
That stance can be shifting. Somaliland’s increasing strategic value, particularly amidst the Red Sea crisis, can be compelling Washington to reconsider its stance. A bipartisan group in the U.S. Congress introduced a resolution in 2024 asking for increased engagement with Somaliland, including direct diplomatic representation.
The Somali government decried the move as a violation of its sovereignty. “Somaliland is Somalia. Any foreign military base or mineral agreement without our consent is illegal under international law,” declared Somali Foreign Minister Ahmed Moallim.
Ethiopia, having just signed a controversial memorandum of understanding with Somaliland to provide it access to Berbera in exchange for partial recognition, will surely welcome further foreign engagement. Djibouti, which hosts bases from the United States, France, and China, will likely view the ascension of Berbera as threatening to it as a competitor center of military and commercial influence in the region.
Somaliland’s political proposition is as pragmatic as it is strategic. By tying recognition to concrete U.S. interests maritime security and rare earth supply chains Hargeisa is framing its claim of independence not as a moral entreaty, but as a mutually beneficial trade.
Whether or not America will seize the opportunity remains to be seen. But this much is clear: Somaliland is no longer waiting idly in the wings for recognition. It is using its best assets, geography and democratic values, to make its claim on the global stage.
Somaliland Offers U.S. Naval Base and Rare Earth Access in Exchange for Recognition.
