Claim: Somaliland holds official talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a step towards recognition.
Conclusion: The claim is false. India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) also explicitly debunked it as disinformation.
Rating: Totally False — 
Several social media users have claimed that there have been official talks between Somaliland President and Indian Prime Minister Modi. Verified X user ‘MiddleEast_24’ shared such a claim with a graphic depicting President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi connected by a phone icon. The caption claims: “The President of the Republic of Somaliland holds official talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. Recognition of Somaliland by the world’s largest democracy is imminent.”
The post gained more than 134,000 views and can be seen below:
The President of the Republic of Somaliland holds official talks with Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India. Recognition of Somaliland by the world’s largest democracy is imminent. pic.twitter.com/cEOhx0omiK
— ME24 – Middle East 24 (@MiddleEast_24) January 2, 2026
Other users have shared similar claim which can be seen here and here
FACT CHECK
DigitEYE India decided to investigate this claim and found that it is entirely false. India’s Ministry of External Affairs fact check unit has also debunked this claim and flagged it as false.
Details:
We first conducted a web search with the phrase “Somaliland President holds talks with India” to learn more. There were several reports about Israel becoming the first country to controversially recognize Somaliland but nothing about India. Recently, there was a news about Somaliland focus on Israel’s recognition and a visit by Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar but nothing involving Somaliland-India relations.
Following this, we checked the official X accounts of Somaliland’s President and PM Modi but did not find anything. MEA India press releases from January 2026 also contain no references to such a call. View a screenshot of all the press releases published in January 2026 below:
Somaliland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Internal Cooperation website shows no announcements of talks with Modi in January 2026. The last statement was published on January 4, 2026, which pertains to Somaliland’s principle alignment with the U.S. strikes on Venezuela. View a screenshot of the recent press releases below:
Lastly, we searched for any official clarification by both the Government of India and Somaliland on this claim. On January 3, 2026, MEA India’s Fact Check unit labeled social media posts claiming the talks as “fake,” urging vigilance against disinformation. This directly refutes the graphic and associated claims of talks between India and Somaliland. View the post here:
Fake news alert!
The posts below are fake. Be vigilant against fake news on social media platforms. https://t.co/n4swBWBQUKhttps://t.co/lDHYkq3CGR pic.twitter.com/lyOEFCXBS6
— MEA FactCheck (@MEAFactCheck) January 3, 2026
Thus, the claim is totally false.
