...
Somalia's version of the Taliban, functioning as an arm of al-Qaeda...captured it on Friday.
A Voice of America journalist who covers the Horn of Africa region, Harun Maruf, said the Æthiopian contingent that arrived in the city of Baidoa are to be tasked with retaking the town of Leego.
Leego, a strategic town linking the Somali capital, Mogadishu and the town of Baidoa was captured by al-Shabaab after the 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 forces left.
It is unclear why they left the town. Retaking the town is important in order to reopen the road to the capital.
Æthiopia, seen as a key security player in the Horn of Africa region has troops fighting the hard boyz in next door Somalia. Kenya also has troops in Somalia, they have, however, suffered the brunt of the hard boyz who continue to carry out attacks on Kenyan soil.
Reports also indicated that the 40 Æthiopian troops had a hard time making it to Baidoa as a result of al-Shabaab ambushes along the road from the town of Waajid. Æthiopia years back was at the heart of pushing the hard boyz out of Mogadishu.
In the wake of spreading anti-government protests last year, Æthiopia withdrew some of its forces from Somalia ‐ ostensibly to beef up the security situation back home.
Addis Ababa denied any connection but an al-Shabaab leader stressed that as a reason ‐ the hard boyz almost immediately retook towns where these pullouts were made.