Britain appointed its first ambassador to Somalia for 21 years on Thursday during a visit to the capital of the Horn of Africa nation by Foreign Secretary William Hague.

At the moment, there are six diplomatic missions in Mogadishu, representing Turkey, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Libya, Sudan and Yemen. The U.N.'s special envoy to Somalia also moved to Mogadishu last month.

It was the first visit to Mogadishu by a British foreign minister since 1992 and comes ahead of a conference in London this month to discuss measures to tackle instability in Somalia and piracy off its shores.

Britain's new envoy to Somalia, Matt Baugh, will remain based in Kenya's capital Nairobi until security conditions permit the opening of an embassy in Mogadishu.