Israel has officially recognized Somaliland, the breakaway region of Somalia, as an "independent and sovereign state," according to a statement issued by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This makes it the first country to recognize this semi-desert territory, roughly the size of Nicaragua, with a population of 3.5 million, which declared its independence in 1991. Since then, no other country had recognized it as an independent nation. "This declaration is in the spirit of the Abraham Accords, signed at the initiative of President Trump," Netanyahu explained, referring to the agreements Israel signed in 2020 with US mediation to normalize diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Later, two other countries, Sudan and Morocco, also joined the agreement.