NEW YORK CITY — Somaliland’s President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi, known colloquially as “Irro,” told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that American President Donald Trump is a “great man” who can “make more history” than he already has by formally recognizing Somaliland as its own country.
Somaliland, a partially recognized nation-state inside of Somalia, has been fighting in recent years to fully break away from Somalia over the corruption, terrorism, and piracy that dominate Somalia.
Somaliland has won formal recognition from its first country, the state of Israel, which came late in 2025.
While it does not have formal recognition from others yet, the partially recognized country has been building deep ties with the West in a significant way in recent years, positioning itself as pro-American and aiming to align closely with Trump in particular.
“Well, I think President Trump is a great man,” Abdullahi told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview in his hotel suite in midtown Manhattan in late September.
“He made history, and he could make more history by recognizing a new country called Somaliland, which will cooperate unconditionally in the fight against terrorism, in the fight against piracy, in the fight for marine security, and safer world trade routes as well, in a strategic, very important location.” Abdullahi said that the ports in Somaliland, particularly in the coastal city of Berbera, are able to handle major shipping companies’ needs and are already moving large quantities of goods.
“Berbera, as I said, has a very strategic location, and now, because of the certain conditions in the world which now exist regarding the war, even some of the world’s largest shipping companies now use Berbera to bring their goods, and later they ship again to their destinations because of security reasons,” Abdullahi said.
“So Berbera’s need and demand is increasing, and Berbera is a viable port that can handle large containers as well.” He also made clear he supports Trump getting the Nobel Peace Prize for everything he has done worldwide to end major conflicts, including the longest war in the world, which is on his continent of Africa — between the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Rwanda.
“I may be on the record that I am the first African leader to refer the president for a Nobel Peace Prize, because so far for the short time he has been in office, he has resolved many conflicts in the world,” Abdullahi told Breitbart News.
During his trip to the United States, while he has not yet gotten the U.S.
to move towards formal recognition of Somaliland, Abdullahi said it was a productive couple of weeks in Washington and then New York for the UNGA.
“We had a very cordial, friendly reception in the United States,” Abdullahi said.
“We had a productive week in Washington, and met with congressmen.
We met with senators.
We met with the administration, including the State Department, the Department of War, the Department of Energy, and Department of Treasury.
We also met prestigious institutions in Washington, and I have a speech here at the CFR in New York.
Yes, we also spoke and met with different organizations in the United States and New York.
We have met with some friendly countries, some organizations as well.” While formal recognition has yet to materialize, Abdullahi told Breitbart News that so far the “level of engagement” between the United States and Somaliland has Somalilanders “satisfied” for now.
“Well, we are actually satisfied with the level of engagement we had in the United States now,” Abdullahi said.
“We didn’t get the recognition now on the table, but hopefully things will move forward, and we make great progress, and we are satisfied with....
