British Foreign Secretary William Hague shakes hands with Somali president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud at the opening of the newly built British Embassy in the Somali capital Mogadishu. Hague was in Mogadishu today to open the new British diplomatic mission over 20 years after it's predecessor was closed down and evacuated in 1991 as Somalia descended into over two decades of civil war and conflict, but with an improving security situation in the Horn of Africa country, the United Kingdom has become the first Western country to re-establish a permanent diplomatic presence in Somalia. AU-UN IST PHOTO / STUART PRICE.