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)
TT
20

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.



US Will Keep Hitting Houthis until Shipping Attacks Stop, Hegseth Says

This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)
This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)
TT
20

US Will Keep Hitting Houthis until Shipping Attacks Stop, Hegseth Says

This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)
This grab from footage shared by the US Central Command (CENTCOM) on March 15, 2025 shows a US Air Force F/A-18 fighter aircraft taking off from an aircraft carrier at sea reportedly amidst operations launched against Houthis in Yemen. (DVIDS / AFP)

The United States will keep attacking Yemen's Houthi until they end attacks on shipping, the US defense secretary said on Sunday, as the Iran-aligned militias signaled they could escalate in response to deadly US strikes the day before.

The airstrikes, which killed at least 31 people, are the biggest US military operation in the Middle East since President Donald Trump took office in January. One US official told Reuters the campaign might continue for weeks.

The Houthi political bureau described the attacks as a "war crime" and said Houthi forces were ready to "meet escalation with escalation", while Moscow urged Washington to cease the strikes.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Fox News: "The minute the Houthis say we'll stop shooting at your ships, we'll stop shooting at your drones, this campaign will end, but until then it will be unrelenting."

"This is about stopping the shooting at assets ... in that critical waterway, to reopen freedom of navigation, which is a core national interest of the United States, and Iran has been enabling the Houthis for far too long," he said. "They better back off."

The Houthis, who have taken control of several regions of Yemen over the past decade, said last week they would resume attacks on Israeli ships passing through the Red Sea if Israel did not lift a block on aid entering Gaza.

They had launched scores of attacks on shipping after Israel's war with Hamas began in late 2023, saying they were acting in solidarity with Gaza's Palestinians.

Trump also told Iran, the Houthis' main backer, to stop supporting the militias immediately. He said if Iran threatened the United States, "America will hold you fully accountable and, we won't be nice about it!"

IRAN WARNS US NOT TO ESCALATE

In response, Hossein Salami, the top commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, said the Houthis took their own decisions.

"We warn our enemies that Iran will respond decisively and destructively if they carry out their threats," he told state media.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told CBS News' "Face the Nation" program: "There's no way the ... Houthis would have the ability to do this kind of thing unless they had support from Iran. And so this was a message to Iran: don't keep supporting them, because then you will also be responsible for what they are doing in attacking Navy ships and attacking global shipping."

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called Rubio to urge an "immediate cessation of the use of force and the importance for all sides to engage in political dialogue", Moscow said.

Trump has been pressing Russia to sign a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in its war with Ukraine, which Kyiv accepted last week, but Moscow has said needs to be reworked.

Trump is also increasing sanctions pressure, and hoping to enlist Russian help, to try to bring Tehran to the negotiating table over its nuclear program.

Most of the 31 people confirmed killed in the US strikes were women and children, said Anees al-Asbahi, spokesperson for the Houthi-run health ministry. More than 100 were injured.

Residents in Sanaa said the strikes hit a neighborhood known to host several members of the Houthi leadership.

"The explosions were violent and shook the neighborhood like an earthquake. They terrified our women and children," said one of the residents, who gave his name as Abdullah Yahia.

In Sanaa, a crane and bulldozer were used to remove debris at one site and people used their bare hands to pick through the rubble. At a hospital, medics treated the injured, including children, and the bodies of several casualties were placed in a yard, wrapped in plastic sheets, Reuters footage showed.

Strikes also targeted Houthi military sites in the city of Taiz, two witnesses said on Sunday.

HOUTHIS' RED SEA ATTACKS DISRUPT GLOBAL TRADE ROUTE

Another strike, on a power station in the town of Dahyan, led to a power cut, Al-Masirah TV reported early on Sunday. Dahyan is where Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Houthis, often meets visitors.

The Houthi attacks on shipping have disrupted global commerce and set the US military off on a costly campaign to intercept missiles and drones.

The militants suspended their campaign when Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in Gaza in January.

But on March 12, the Houthis said their threat to attack Israeli ships would remain in effect until Israel reapproved the delivery of aid and food into Gaza.

Joe Biden's previous US administration had also sought to degrade the Houthis' strike power. But US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Trump had authorized a more aggressive approach.

The US military's Central Command described Saturday's strikes as the start of a large-scale operation across Yemen.

The strikes were carried out in part by fighter aircraft from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman in the Red Sea, officials said.

Iran condemned the strikes as a "gross violation" of the UN Charter and international law.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said the US government had "no authority, or business, dictating Iranian foreign policy".