LONDON: Somalia’s president urged donors at an international conference yesterday to provide “considerable investment and support” for his beleaguered government, arguing that the fate of his country and the region hangs in the balance.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud and British Prime Minister David Cameron were co-hosting the conference in London that aimed to bolster Mohamud’s government in Mogadishu.

“There is a huge amount at stake right now,” Mohamud told the delegates. “The future of our country, the security of the region, and the wider world, and the removal of the piracy stranglehold on the Gulf of Aden.” Somalia was expected to detail its plans to develop the country’s security forces, justice sector and financial management systems in hopes of getting more international aid.

The British prime minister praised the gains made in Somalia over the past year, saying that extremism is in retreat, piracy attacks are down and the government is moving ahead.

“After two decades of bloodshed and some of the worst poverty on earth, hope is alive in Somalia,” Cameron said.