World leaders meet to discuss Somalia

International leaders met Thursday to discuss terror and militant threats in Somalia and find ways to address leadership and famine woes that have dogged the nation for decades. Representatives from 40 countries, including U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon attended the London conference on stabilizing and rebuilding Somalia after decades of war. The session aims to galvanize the international community to develop a more comprehensive approach to tackling these ills, British officials said. "We are realistic -- Somalia's problems cannot be solved in a day, but its people deserve a better future, and our own security requires their country to become more stable," UK Foreign Secretary William Hague said in a statement. Hague said the conference aims to get the "whole of the world behind the efforts of the Somali people" to help build a stronger and more prosperous nation. The meeting comes a day after the United Nations Security Council voted to increase the African Union force in Somalia from about 12,000 to close to 18,000 troops to help battle a militant insurgency. Somalia has not had a central government since 1991, and the Islamist militant group Al-Shabaab has been waging an insurgency against the transitional federal government for years. "We must keep up the pressure on Al Shabaab so that their grip on Somalia continues to weaken," Clinton said. The group, which announced recently that it joined al Qaeda, remains a threat in the country. The international community hopes the bolstered force will further degrade the group, creating space for a political solution. Established in 2004, Somalia's transitional government is weak and needs significant capacity building to consolidate the country's security gains with political ones. The international community wants it to meet a timeline for establishing a new government, including appointing a constitutional assembly and writing a constitution, before August when its mandate expires. The crisis in Somalia has drawn in many African countries. Neighboring Kenya and Ethiopia have both sent troops directly, while Uganda, Djibouti and Burundi are contributing peacekeepers. The United States, which has used drones to target militants in Somalia, and European nations consider the nation one of the key terrorist threats in the world today. From The telegraph