British Foreign Secretary William Hague (centre) walks with African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) Force Commander Lt. Gen Andrew Gutti (left) inside the AU mission's headquarters in the Somali capital Mogadishu. Hague was in Mogadishu today to open the newly built British Embassy over 20 years after the former diplomatic mission 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.