[An Nahar] African Union...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
and Somali troops captured the key port of Marka from al-Qaeda-linked Shebab bully boyz on Monday, the latest in a string of bases to be wrested from the Death Eaters, officials said.
"We have taken Marka, we entered alongside the hapless Somali government forces this morning," said Colonel Ali Houmed, the front man for the African Union mission in Somalia (AMISOM).
"There was some fighting, but not so heavy, most of the Shebab had fled."
The loss of Marka, some 70 kilometers (45 miles) south of the capital Mogadishu, is another major blow for the bad boys, who have been on the back foot for several months.
AU and Somali troops have made significant gains in recent months against the Shebab, although the Islamists remain a major security threat. Æthiopian troops are also battling the gunnies from the south and west.
The loss of Marka leaves the Shebab with two major ports in southern Somalia -- Barawe and the key rebel bastion of Kismayo -- although an international naval blockade has already greatly squeezed maritime access there.
The Shebab abandoned their last fixed bases in Mogadishu a year ago, where they have since reverted to guerrilla tactics, claiming a series of suicide kabooms and roadside kabooms.
The latest defeat for the Shebab comes as candidates for Somalia's powerful position of parliamentary speaker campaign a day ahead of the expected vote, a key step in setting up a new government for the war-torn nation.
Somalia has not had a stable central government since the 1991 ouster of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, which sparked rounds of bloody civil war.
The United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
-backed process, which has already selected the majority of a new parliament and will culminate in a vote for president, is the latest bid to end two decades of instability in the Horn of Africa nation.
"We are facilitating the timely implementation of this important political step," the U.N. political office for Somalia (UNPOS) said Monday, adding it was hopeful the already-delayed vote would go ahead on Tuesday as planned.
Secret ballots in parliament for the posts of speaker and two deputy speakers have been delayed several times.
Bitter arguments have begun between challengers for the top jobs, divided along Somalia's notoriously fractious clan lines.
Six candidates are running for the post of speaker, including two former prime ministers, Hassan Abshir Farah and Ali Khalif Galayr, both from the Darod clan and the northern semi-autonomous Puntland
...a region in northeastern Somalia, centered on Garowe in the Nugaal province. Its leaders declared the territory an autonomous state in 1998. Puntland and the equally autonomous Somaliland seem to have avoided the clan rivalries and warlordism that have typified the rest of Somalia, which puts both places high on the list for Islamic subversion...
region.
Mohamed Osman Jawari, a former minister under the regime of Siad Barre, from the Rahanweyn clan from the southern Baidoa region, is also running for the post.