Mogadishu (Somalia Today) – The Duchess of Edinburgh on Tuesday wrapped up a rare two-day visit to Somalia, where she met survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and urged greater female participation in the country’s security fight against Al-Shabaab insurgents.
Sophie, a senior member of the British royal family and a long-time advocate for women in conflict zones, met with President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud at Villa Somalia, the presidential palace in Mogadishu.
The visit, held ahead of International Women’s Day on March 8, centred on the “crucial role women play in peacebuilding” and the need to end impunity for gender-based violence (GBV) in the Horn of Africa nation, the British embassy said in a statement.
“The Duchess emphasised the centrality of women and girls to the Somalia-UK partnership,” the embassy said.
President Mohamud praised the Duchess for her advocacy and said the federal government placed “special importance” on strengthening cooperation on women’s rights and social development, according to a statement from the Somali presidency.
‘Weapon of war’
During her trip, the Duchess met women who survived sexual violence attributed to Al-Shabaab, the Al-Qaeda-linked militant group that has waged a bloody insurgency against the central government for nearly two decades.
In a meeting at Uganda House within the Villa Somalia compound, accompanied by the president’s daughter Jihan Abdullahi Hassan, the royal heard “harrowing” accounts of abuse.
Rights groups and the United Nations have long documented sexual violence as a tactic of war in Somalia, where insecurity often keeps survivors from seeking justice.
In an unusual step for a visiting royal, Sophie also travelled outside the heavily fortified capital to a village in the Lower Shabelle region, an agricultural belt that has frequently seen heavy fighting between government forces and militants.
There, she met the wives of Somali soldiers, who described the “dangers posed by Al-Shabaab and the challenges they face while their husbands fight for a more secure Somalia,” the British statement added.
Deepening crisis
The royal visit comes as Somalia confronts a convergence of security threats and climate shocks.
Humanitarian agencies have warned that recurring droughts and flash floods have displaced millions, increasing the vulnerability of women and girls in internally displaced persons (IDP) camps to sexual exploitation and abuse.
Local civil society groups, including the Ifrah Foundation and the Somali Women’s Study Centre, told the Duchess that “conflict, drought and scarcity of resources” were driving a rise in GBV.
Britain, a key donor to Somalia, said its support for survivors reached nearly 130,000 women and girls between 2024 and 2025.
At a hospital in central Mogadishu, the Duchess visited a programme run by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) that provides clinical care to victims.
The discussions also addressed female genital mutilation (FGM), a practice the UN condemns as a human rights violation.
Somalia has the highest rate of FGM in the world, with about 99 percent of women aged 15 to 49 having undergone the procedure, according to UN data.
Security partnership
Britain remains a major security partner for Somalia.
In September 2025, London announced an additional £6 million ($8 million) contribution to the United Nations Support Office in Somalia (UNSOS) to provide non-lethal support — including fuel, rations, and medical evacuation — to Somali security forces.
The Duchess’s trip to Mogadishu follows similar high-profile visits she has made to conflict zones, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Sudan, and Kosovo, as she campaigns against the use of sexual violence in war.
She left Somalia on Tuesday to continue a regional tour.
