UK Prime Minister David Cameron says Somalia has made “huge progress” in efforts to end more than two decades of conflict.
He is co-hosting a conference in London with Somalia’s President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud to help the East African state rebuild itself.
Somalia is widely regarded as a failed state, hit by an Islamist insurgency, piracy and a famine from 2010 to 2012.
Mr Mohamud said the government would take full control of security by 2015.
The government – which took office last year – depends on about 18,000 African Union (AU) troops to stay in power.
Al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda, has waged an insurgency since 2007 to seize power and still controls much of the country.
‘Government’s writ’
The meeting follows similar conferences in London and the Turkish city of Istanbul last year, amid growing international concern that Somalia has turned into a haven for al-Qaeda-linked militants.
The new government is the first one in more than two decades to be recognised by the United States, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other key players who are attending the conference.
In a BBC interview, Mr Cameron said Somalia was “one of the most broken countries in the world” and the “writ of the government, as it stands today, doesn’t run a long way outside Mogadishu, but at least it has a government, it’s making a start and I think we’re seeing some real progress”.
Mr Cameron also held talks with Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta, who is attending the conference – his first visit to a Western country since his controversial election in March.
The UK had said it would have limited contact with him, as he been charged by the International Criminal Court (ICC) with crimes against humanity over his alleged role in fuelling violence after the disputed 2007 election – charges he denies.
Mr Cameroon defended meeting Mr Kenyatta, saying he was co-operating with the ICC and Kenya was playing a vital role, along with other regional states, to beat back al-Shabab in Somalia.
Mr Mohamud told delegates that the cornerstones of a new Somalia had been laid since last year’s conference.
“The political transition has ended and I stand here as the elected president of a sovereign nation,” he said.
The Somali leader told the BBC that he envisaged the withdrawal of the AU force within two years.
“Soon, we are expecting to take over fully the security of Somalia,” he said.
‘Tackling corruption’
BBC Somalia analyst Mary Harper says Mr Mohamud appears to be optimistic, as he is little more than the president of the capital, Mogadishu.
The Somali army is made up of clan militias with questionable loyalty, she says.
Somalia is also divided into a patchwork of self-governing regions, many of them hostile to the central government.
The breakaway state of Somaliland and the semi-autonomous region of Puntland have boycotted the conference.
Somalia’s government is also totally dependent on foreign aid, and has so far refused to agree to set up a joint oversight mechanism to curb corruption, our correspondent says.
Mr Mohamud said the government had laid the foundations for a new public finance management mechanism to ensure that donor money was properly spent.
Mr Cameron said the need for a joint oversight mechanism would be discussed at the conference.
“You have to do everything you can to make sure it [aid] gets through to the people who need it but it’s particularly tough in a country that hasn’t had a functioning government,” he told the BBC.
“To be fair to the president, he has signed up to an awful lot of new measures and steps to make sure the government is transparent.”
UK aid to Somalia for the next two years amounts to about £80m ($120m).
The UN estimates that nearly 260,000 people died during the famine in Somalia, which is now over.
Pirate attacks have also fallen dramatically in recent years, as international navies patrol Somalia’s waters.
Rival groups have battled for control of Somalia since the overthrow of long-serving ruler Siad Barre in 1991.
