Chinese Foreign Minister Cancels Mogadishu Visit After City Lockdown Disrupts Capital

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi cancelled a planned visit to Mogadishu on Thursday, Somali officials said, after authorities imposed unusually heavy security measures across the capital in anticipation of the high-level trip.

Major roads were closed from early morning, access routes to Aden Adde International Airport were sealed, and police and soldiers were deployed at key junctions, severely disrupting movement. Residents reported being unable to reach workplaces, schools and hospitals, while some businesses remained shut for most of the day.

Restrictions remained in place for several hours after the cancellation was confirmed, with no immediate public guidance on when normal traffic would resume.

A source at Somalia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed that Wang would not arrive as scheduled but said no reason had been communicated and no new date set. Somalia’s government has not issued a formal statement, and China’s foreign ministry has so far made no public comment.

Wang’s Mogadishu visit was part of his January 7–12 African tour, which includes Ethiopia, Tanzania and Lesotho. The Somalia stop was expected to involve talks on bilateral relations, regional security and economic cooperation, and would have been one of the rarest high-level Chinese diplomatic visits to the country.

There is no recent publicly recorded visit by a sitting Chinese foreign minister to Mogadishu, reflecting long-standing security challenges that have limited senior-level engagements.

Earlier this week in Ethiopia, Wang met Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, where the two sides said they would deepen cooperation in infrastructure, logistics, digital economy and green industries as part of what they described as an “all-weather strategic partnership.”

China has long been a key diplomatic and economic partner of Somalia, supporting reconstruction projects, humanitarian assistance and Somalia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Beijing has consistently opposed moves seen as undermining Somalia’s unity, a sensitive issue amid recent regional tensions in the Horn of Africa.

Mogadishu remains under persistent threat from the al-Shabaab militant group, and heavy security is standard for senior foreign delegations. However, residents and analysts noted that Thursday’s lockdown appeared broader than usual, affecting large sections of the city.

Security officials did not say whether the measures were routine protocol or linked to specific threats.