A member of the Somali National Army walks across the runway
at Kismayo International Airport on the outskirts of the port city of Kismayo
in southern Somalia. This fall, Kismayo was liberated from the terrorist group al-Shabab by members of the Kenya Defense Forces, the Somali National Army, and
local militias all operating under the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). But as James Verini writes in his dispatch for Foreign Policy, liberation doesn't meant that the Islamic terrorist insurgency has been defeated.
AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
A member of the Kenya Defense Forces stands guard on the road
leading from Kismayo International Airport to the city. Kismayo
remains largely peaceful almost two months after the city was liberated.
AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
A member of Ras Kamboni, a local militia, accompanies an
AMISOM convoy from Kismayo International Airport to Kismayo.
While attacks by al-Shabab on AMISOM troops have been decreasing
in Somalia, the terrorist group has turned to planting IEDs and using other
insurgency tactics.
AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
A boy working at Kismayo seaport sits in the front seat of a
truck being loaded with cargo. Two decades of civil war have left Somalia's
infrastructure and economy in tatters, though in recent months both have been
slowly improving.
AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
Members of the business community in Kismayo attend a
meeting held at the seaport to discuss the current business climate in the city
under its new leaders and the challenges that lie ahead.
AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
The exportation of charcoal, which constitutes Kismayo's largest industry,
continues to be a contentious issue for local business owners who deny that any of
the profits from these exports go to al-Shabab. Taxes and extortion of the charcoal trade was once thought to contribute as much as $50 million a year to the terrorist group al-Shabab.
AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
Businessmen gather to discuss the future of the
city's charcoal industry, which is currently the subject of U.N. sanctions.
AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
A member of Ras Kamboni sits guard over the business meeting at the seaport.
AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
A victim of a recent grenade attack in Kismayo recovers in
the region's only hospital. A spate of recent attacks in the city has
overwhelmed Kismayo General Hospital with victims from IED explosions. As a
result, the hospital has had to limit its intake of patients suffering from
other ailments.
AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
Sheikh Ahmed Madobe, head of the city's interim administration,
speaks to journalists at Kismayo International Airport about the current
security situation in the city.
AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
A naval vessel belonging to the Kenya Defense Forces lies off
of Somalia's southern coast line, while a soldier takes a picture of himself at
Kismayo seaport. Part of the military effort to liberate Kismayo involved an
amphibious landing to the north of the city by the Kenyan military.
AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
Soldiers stand guard at the seaport. While AMISOM troops have largely remained outside of the
city, they have established military bases at strategic locations around Kismayo to prevent al-Shabab militants from re-establishing
themselves in the area.
AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
A cage, crudely constructed by al-Shabab to hold women
captive, lies abandoned in a room formerly used as a prison cell in Kismayo
International Airport.
AU-UN IST PHOTO / TOBIN JONES
