Al-Shabaab reportedly ends Baidoa blockade, gov’t denies deal https://t.co/MJ4fS5uTfN
— Goobjoog News (@GoobjoogNews) July 22, 2023
The bad boy group al-Shabaab
...... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord...has ended the near two-week-long blockade of Baidoa following reports of negotiations with local traders.
Sources in Baidoa say the group released trucks to access the town Friday evening after blocking them since July 11.
Sources noted that a group of traders had opened channels of negotiations with al-Shabaab to allow the movement of goods following an escalating crisis in the town as prices shot up amid an already fragile humanitarian situation.
However,
ars longa, vita brevis...
a front man for South West state denied there were any talks with AlShabaab over the blockade. Sources say the government was planning an operation at Mooda-Moode, where the bully boyz are reported to have erected barriers.