Somalia and Somaliland Say No Talks on Resettling Palestinians from Gaza

A Palestinian boy picks flowers close to the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on March 11, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy picks flowers close to the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on March 11, 2025. (AFP)
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Somalia and Somaliland Say No Talks on Resettling Palestinians from Gaza

A Palestinian boy picks flowers close to the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on March 11, 2025. (AFP)
A Palestinian boy picks flowers close to the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Bureij camp for Palestinian refugees in the central Gaza Strip on March 11, 2025. (AFP)

Somalia and its breakaway region of Somaliland have not received any proposal from the United States or Israel to resettle Palestinians from Gaza, their foreign ministers said on Friday, with Mogadishu saying it categorically rejected any such move.

The Associated Press quoted US and Israeli officials as saying their governments had contacted officials from Sudan, Somalia and Somaliland to discuss using their territory for resettling Palestinians from the devastated Gaza Strip.

Sudanese officials said they rejected the proposal by the United States, and officials from Somalia and Somaliland said they were unaware of any contacts, AP reported.

Somalia's Foreign Minister Ahmed Moalim Fiqi said his country would categorically reject "any proposal or initiative, from any party, that would undermine the Palestinian people’s right to live peacefully on their ancestral land".

He told Reuters that Somalia's government had not received any such proposal, adding that Mogadishu was against any plan that would involve the use of Somali territory for the resettlement of other populations.

Abdirahman Dahir Adan, Somaliland's foreign minister, told Reuters that "there are no talks with anyone regarding Palestinians".

Unlike Somalia, which has been battling an extremist insurgency for more than 17 years, Somaliland has mostly been at peace since declaring independence from the Mogadishu government in 1991.

But Somaliland is not recognized by any country and its government has expressed hope that US President Donald Trump will be favorable to its cause.

The White House and the US State Department did not immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

RECONSTRUCTION PLANS

The foreign ministry of Sudan, a country dealing with a devastating civil war, also did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

A senior Sudanese government official told Reuters that Sudan had not received such a proposal and that it would be unacceptable.

Arab leaders adopted a $53 billion Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza that would avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave, in contrast to Trump's vision of a "Middle East Riviera".

Trump has proposed a US takeover of the Gaza Strip to reconstruct the enclave, wrecked by fighting since October 2023, after earlier suggesting that Palestinians should be permanently displaced.

Trump's plan reinforced long-standing Palestinian fears of being permanently driven from their homes, and was widely rejected internationally.

Asked about the AP report, Michele Zaccheo, UN spokesperson in Geneva, said: "Any plan that could or would lead to the forced displacement of people or any type of ethnic cleansing is something that we would obviously be against, as it is against international law."

Taher Al-Nono, political adviser to the leadership of the Palestinian group Hamas, told Reuters the proposal to resettle Palestinians from Gaza in Africa was "silly" and had been rejected by the Palestinians and Arab leaders.

"The Palestinians will not leave their land," he said. Israeli ministers say they want to examine ways of facilitating the voluntary departure of Palestinians from Gaza but are not considering forcible expulsions.



Trump Warns Iran It Will Face ‘Consequences’ of Further Attacks from Yemen’s Houthis

A man inspects the rubble of a house hit by a US strike on the weekend in Yemen's northern Saada province on March 17, 2025. (AFP)
A man inspects the rubble of a house hit by a US strike on the weekend in Yemen's northern Saada province on March 17, 2025. (AFP)
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Trump Warns Iran It Will Face ‘Consequences’ of Further Attacks from Yemen’s Houthis

A man inspects the rubble of a house hit by a US strike on the weekend in Yemen's northern Saada province on March 17, 2025. (AFP)
A man inspects the rubble of a house hit by a US strike on the weekend in Yemen's northern Saada province on March 17, 2025. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump on Monday explicitly linked the actions of Yemen's Houthi militias to their main benefactor, Iran, warning Tehran would “suffer the consequences” for further attacks by the militants.

The comments by Trump on his Truth Social website escalate his administration's new campaign of airstrikes targeting the militias, which killed at least 53 people this weekend alone and appear poised to continue. Meanwhile, Iran continues to weigh how to respond to a letter Trump sent them last week trying to jump-start negotiations over Tehran's rapidly advancing nuclear program.

Houthi supporters themselves rallied in several cities Monday after the strikes, vowing revenge against America and Israel over blocking aid to the Gaza Strip after its war on Hamas there.

“The Yemeni position is an irreversible position (regarding Gaza), so do whatever you (Americans) want, for we are men who fear no one but God," said Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a Houthi leader who spoke to the demonstration in Yemen's Houthi-held capital, Sanaa.

Describing the Houthis as “sinister mobsters and thugs,” Trump warned any attack by the militias would be met with “great force, and there is no guarantee that that force will stop there.”

“Iran has played ‘the innocent victim’ of rogue terrorists from which they’ve lost control, but they haven’t lost control,” Trump alleged in his post. “They’re dictating every move, giving them the weapons, supplying them with money and highly sophisticated Military equipment, and even, so-called, 'Intelligence.'”

It's unclear what sparked Trump's post. However, the head of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard sought to separate the Houthis' actions from those of Tehran this weekend. The Houthis also launched drones and missiles targeting the USS Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier in the Red Sea, though none reached the ship as it continues flight operations in the region.

Iran did not immediately comment on the post.

“Every shot fired by the Houthis will be looked upon, from this point forward, as being a shot fired from the weapons and leadership of IRAN, and IRAN will be held responsible, and suffer the consequences, and those consequences will be dire!” Trump added.

The Houthis attacked over 100 merchant vessels with missiles and drones, sinking two vessels and killing four sailors, from November 2023 until January this year when a ceasefire began in Gaza.

The Houthis claimed there had been additional US airstrikes overnight, though American officials did not immediately acknowledge them.

World Food Program warehouse raided by Houthis

In Saada province, the Houthis' stronghold, the militias raided a warehouse run by the World Food Program. A member of Yemen's legitimate government first reported the Houthis had been taking supplies from the facility without the WFP's permission in the aftermath of the US airstrikes. The United Nations agency later acknowledged the Houthis' actions to The Associated Press.

“WFP regrets the de facto authorities' decision to seize some of the commodities,” it said. “These commodities were intended for the most vulnerable food-insecure families. Only WFP and its partners have the authority to distribute them and ensure they reach the intended recipients.”

Yemen, at war since the Houthis seized Sanaa back in 2014, has been on the precipice of famine for years. But the UN in February suspended its operations in Saada over security concerns following the detentions by the Houthis of dozens of UN workers and others in recent months. A day later, the WFP announced one of its staffers died while imprisoned by the Houthis.