AU troops recover stolen relief food from Al‐Shabaab Camp

The African Union force in Somalia has today revealed that it has recovered over  500  sacks  of  stolen  relief  food from  Al-Shabaab  training  camp  captured  in Lanta-Buro, some 40 kilometres  west  of  Mogadishu.

The camp was on Thursday attacked by Somali government forces backed by the African Union troops in Mogadishu.The  food,  which  was  meant  for  humanitarian  relief  to  the  Somali  people,  had  been  confiscated  by  the  Al  Qaeda‐affiliated  Al‐Shabaab militant group,  who  used  it  instead  to  feed  militants  at  the  camp  in  Lanta‐Buro,  according to a press release by the African Union Mission in Somalia.AMISOM said the recovered food has been returned to the local people.The force said it has also recovered a  cache  of  weapons,  which  included  machine  guns  and  bomb  making  equipment, adding that 11 militants were killed and four others captured.The  capture  of  Lanta‐Buro  is  the  latest  in  a  string  of  AMISOM  successes  that  have  pushed  the  extremists  out  of  much  of  central  and  south  Somalia.

AMISOM  Force  Commander,  Lieutenant  General  Andrew  Gutti,  said  that  the  continuing  operations  would  enable  aid  agencies  to  access  areas  where  they  had  been  previously  barred  by  the  extremists.“We  are  fulfilling  our  mandate  to  support  the  Somali  peace  process  and  create  a  conducive  environment  for  the  safe  delivery  of  desperately  needed  humanitarian  aid,”  he  said.

AMISOM however said Somalia  requires  increased  assistance  following the recent aid  agencies’  warning  that  the  country  faces  another  food  crisis  following  poor  rains  between  March  and  May.