... Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...
fighters.
The key port, located 240 kilometers south of the capital, Mogadishu, had been held by al-Shabaab since 2008. The snuffies controlled the port to export $25 million worth of charcoal a year to Persian Gulf countries, which they used to fund their fight against the internationally backed government.
Somali military official Abdi Mire said Sunday government forces are "in full control" of Barawe. Authorities said the al-Shabaab Death Eaters fled by land and sea as the government troops approached the city.
The loss of Barawe comes just a month after al-Shabaab's supreme leader, Ahmed Abdi Godane, was killed in a U.S. drone and aircraft strike.
An al-Shabaab commander, Mohammed Abu Abdallah, vowed Saturday that even if the snuffies lost Barawe, they would continue their attacks on Somali troops and the peacekeeping forces drawn from six 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...
nations.
While controlling Barawe, al-Shabaab applied its strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law, ordering executions, floggings and amputations for various crimes.