A handout image made available by AMISOM yesterday shows AU soldiers on a hill overlooking Barawe.
African Union (AU) and Somali troops took control of Barawe, a port town used by Shebaab to bring in arms and fighters from abroad, yesterday after the Al Queda-linked militants fled without resistance, a Somali official said.
The move was another blow for Al Qaeda’s main affiliate in Africa and came just a month after the death of their leader Ahmed Abdi Godane in a US air and drone strike.
The African Union’s AMISOM force, which draws 22,000 soldiers from six nations, said that Barawe 180km fell without “much resistance from the terrorist group”.
The African Union and the Somali military launched a joint offensive in March to drive the Islamist fighters out of towns and areas they control and stepped up their campaign in August after a surge in gun and bomb attacks in Mogadishu.
Shebaab members across Somalia have been arrested and smaller towns retaken.
“I wish to share some very good news with the people of Somalia. Shebaab terror capital Barawe is now under Somali government control,” Lydia Wanyoto, the acting head of the African forces, said in a statement issued by the African Union.
Abdikadir Mohamed Sidii, the governor of the Lower Shabelle region in southern Somalia, where Barawe is located, had earlier told Reuters that Shebaab fled when the forces marched on the town.
“We have settled most of the troops on the fringes of the town in order not to scare the residents. Only a few infantry are now inside. The mood is calm and there is neither attack nor resistance. Residents are calm,” Sidii said.
Sheikh Abdiasis Abu Musab, Shebaab’s military operations spokesman, declined to comment on whether the Islamist militants had abandoned the town.
He told Reuters earlier in the day that militants on Saturday had burned two government vehicles near Barawe.
The AU said the ambush was not successful.
Hussein Nur, a university lecturer in governance and leadership in Mogadishu, said that Barawe’s loss was a blow to Shebaab.
“Economically, it was a port where they exported charcoal and imported what they needed. Militarily, it was a strategic place where Shebaab leaders and foreigners hid and trained bombers,” he told Reuters. “For the government, it means Shebaab no longer has a base in the range of about 200km away from Mogadishu. However, this is not the elimination of Shebaab. They are still strong and control large swathes of Somalia.”
Barawe, about 180km south of Mogadishu, had been fully controlled by the Islamist militia with almost no government presence since 2006.
Shebaab banned many aspects of modern life in the town and applied its strict literal interpretation of Islamic sharia law, ordering executions, floggings and amputations for crimes such as theft.
Residents said they were leaving Barawe.
“Shebaab addressed us in the mosque ... they said they were leaving the town and warned us against helping the government,” Hussein Ibrahim, a resident of Barawe told Reuters.
“I am also preparing to flee. We are sure Shebaab will attack the town,” he added.
The group ruled most of the southern region of Somalia from 2006 until 2011, when African troops marched into the capital.
The West, unnerved by the rising tide of Islamic militancy, have supported the AU peace-keeping force financially, saying that Shebaab exploited Somalia’s chaos to train fighters.
Kenya, which has deployed troops with the African Union force, felt the impact of Shebaab’s reach in September last year when gunmen from the group launched an attack on the upscale Westgate mall, leaving 67 dead.
The Shebaab exported charcoal through Barawe to Gulf countries, earning at least $25mn (€19mn) a year from the trade, according to UN estimates.
“What is very significant is that the ‘capital’ of Shebaab has fallen,” a specialist on Somalia told AFP, requesting anonymity.
The specialist said that the Shebaab, who also lost control of the strategic port of Kismayo in October 2012, now had no major town in their hands.
The Shebaab have vowed to avenge their leader’s death and continue their fight to topple the country’s internationally-backed government.
On Saturday, a Shebaab commander, Mohamed Abu Abdallah, said the militia would maintain pressure on Somali and AU forces even if the militia lost Barawe.
“Let me assure you that we will never leave (the area) around Barawe, the fighting will continue and we will turn the town into graveyards of the enemy,” he said, quoted by a pro-Shebaab website.
The strike against Shebaab leader Godane – one of the world’s eight top terror fugitives – came days after the AU and Somali troops launched a major offensive, “Operation Indian Ocean”, against the insurgents on several fronts.
The AMISOM force has been fighting alongside government troops against the Shebaab since 2007.
Losing Barawe and Godane in the space of a month constitutes “two major blows” to the Shebaab, even more crippling than the military turnaround in 2011 that saw AMISOM and Somali forces take back Mogadishu, the analyst said.
The Islamists continue to control vast swathes of rural Somalia as well as major transport routes connecting the government-held towns, from where they regularly stage guerrilla raids and attacks on government targets.
But Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud told the UN General Assembly late last month that the Shebaab had been pushed out of 70% of the country’s south and central regions.