African Union troops yesterday withdrew from the strategic southern Somalia port town of Marka, gifting al Qaeda linked extremists a port on the Somalia coast for the first time in 16 months.
Heavily armed al Shabaab militants moved into the town and hoisted their flag hours after troops from the Ugandan contingent of the AU Mission in Somalia left.
The loss of Marka is the second major blow for Amisom in less than a month.
In mid-January, dozens of soldiers from the Kenyan contingent were killed when al Shabaab overran their base in El Adde.
Marka is Somalia’s third-largest port after Mogadishu, 90km to the north, and Kismayo, which is more than 300km to the south.
In between Marka and Kismayo lies Barawe, the last major port which al Shabaab controlled before they were dislodged in October 2014.
Amisom denied reports they have moved from Marka.
Initial reports indicate Somalia federal government forces had withdrawn from the town a day earlier in anticipation of an al Shabaab attack.
Marka had been in government hands since it was captured by a joint Amisom and Somalia forces in August 2012.
Last August, Amisom refused a request by local elders to leave “a particular deployment” near Marka after its troops attacked a wedding party in the town, killing six civilians.
The port could be a boon for al Shabaab whose major source of revenue comes from taxes on Somali charcoal exports.