MOGADISHU (SD) – Former Somali President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo held a secret meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in early 2020, according to the Times of Israel.

The newspaper quoted a former diplomat Somalia’s Special Envoy to the Horn of Africa, the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, Balal Mohamed Osman who flew with President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo o Jerusalem in February of that year.

The publication quoted Mr. Bilal that it was U.S. President Trump that opposed engagement with Somalia “He didn’t want to deal with the country, he thought it was a ‘shithole country,’”

According to the diplomat, Farmajo also instructed Somalia’s ambassador to Switzerland, Fatima Abdullahi Mohamud, to abstain from the 2019 UN Human Rights Council vote condemning Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights.

The newspaper, and Chanel 12, recently reported that Somali President Hassan Sheikh and Somaliland president are entertaining Israeli diplomatic relations.