Britain's Foreign Secretary William HaguevisitedMogadishu Thursday, Feb 2, one of the highest profile visitors and the most senior British official to travel to the war-torn Somali capital in two decades.
Hague met withSomali President Sharif Sheikh Ahmedat the presidential palace in Mogadishu, AFP reported.
Security was tightened in Mogadishu, a city that has been battered by a bloody insurgency in which Al-Qaeda-linked Shebab insurgents have launched waves of grenade attacks and suicide bombers to unseat the Western-backed government.
Hague's surprise visit comes ahead of a London conference due on February 23 aimed at resolving the protracted crises in the lawless Horn of Africa nation.
Britain's Foreign Office says the event "aims to bring together leaders of key partner countries and organizations… to help galvanize a common approach to address the problems and challenges of Somaliathat affect us all."
This includes tackling the issues of extremism and the "underlying causes of instability and conflict in Somalia".
Piracy and how best to tackle "the terrorist threat emanating from Somalia" will also top the agenda, as will the humanitarian crisis resulting from conflict and drought.
Hague's visit follows that ofTurkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoganin August, and UN chief Ban Ki-moon's in December, the first by a UN secretary general in 18 years.
Somalia has been without an effective central government since the 1991 ouster of president Siad Barre, and the weak government in Mogadishu is propped up by a 10,000-strong African Union force from Uganda, Burundi and Djibouti.
