The Mogadishu government condemned a map presented by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying its depiction of Somalia violated the country’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. The response, reported on October 21 by SONNA and regional outlets, concerned a graphic grouping Puntland and Somaliland with Israel and the United Arab Emirates.

The map had been shown during a national-security presentation. Somalia Today’s October 19 account described it as a portrayal of regional alignments, with the southern part of Somalia and the North Eastern State placed in a different grouping associated with Türkiye, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The Mogadishu government rejected the way the graphic divided Somali territory.

In its response, the government described Puntland and Somaliland as integral parts of Somalia and opposed foreign steps that it said would weaken national unity. The statement turns a visual presentation of regional relationships into a diplomatic dispute over sovereignty and the depiction of political boundaries.

Puntland’s inclusion gives the dispute a direct connection to the Gulf of Aden and the wider debate over outside powers’ relationships with Somali authorities. The immediate development is the government’s formal objection to Netanyahu’s presentation. The map itself supplies the subject of that objection; the response sets out the position Mogadishu wants foreign governments to observe.