Earlier this year, Foreign Secretary William Hague used a speech on British counter-terrorism at RUSI to declare that ‘helping Somalia is a primary priority for our government’. Motivated by the continuing impact of piracy on international shipping, in addition to the terror of radicalisation amongst the British Somali diaspora, the UK’s policy on Somalia has grown significantly under the coalition government. On 25 April, Hague reopened the British embassy in Mogadishu, a symbolic capstone of the burgeoning bilateral relationship.

On 7 May, the international community will again gather in London to lend support to Somalia’s stabilisation efforts – the newest in a chain of diplomatic efforts led by the united kingdom and Turkey to place donor muscle into Somalia’s reconstruction. This engagement began in earnest in February 2012 when fifty heads of state, including representatives from the Somalia and Somaliland governments, met in London to streamline international support and inspire a timetable for political transition. The second one London Conference on Somalia will continue that support, and is concentrated at the rehabilitation of Somalia’s security forces, justice system and public finances.

The emphasis on security institutions is crucial to assist the technocratic government of Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to counter the persistent threat of Al-Shabaab, the jihadist insurgent group. Having withdrawn from the capital Mogadishu in August 2011, it remains the proverbial thorn: despite co-ordinated action by African Union, Kenyan, Ethiopian and Somali government troops to drive Al-Shabaab from its strongholds, it has proved adept at an adaptive, asymmetric campaign. Its tactics include sleeper cells, assassinations, car bombings and kidnappings: five Kenyan hostages were held since September 2011.