SOMALIA-UN-AU

RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT "AFP PHOTO / AU-UN IST PHOTO / STUART PRICE" - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS In a photograph taken and released by the African Union-United Nations Information Support team on February 28, 2012, a Ugandan soldier serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) stands in front of truck at a defensive position east of the central Somali town of Buur-Hakba following it's capture the day before from the Al-Qaeda-affiliated extremist group Al Shabaab by the Somali National Army (SNA), supported by AMISOM forces. The strategically important town linking the capital Mogadishu and the hinterlands of central Somalia was liberated without a shot being fired, marking a significant loss for the group. The town, located 64kms east of Baidoa, Somalia's second city, was a stronghold of the Shabaab where they extorted high levies of illegal taxation on the local civilian populations and used it as a base from where they planned and launched attacks against government forces and installations, AMISOM and the Somali population. AFP PHOTO/ AU-UN IST PHOTO / STUART PRICE. (Photo credit should read STUART PRICE/AFP via Getty Images)