A soldier of the Somali Natioinal Army (SNA) stands by sacks of charcoal as a convoy of the Kenyan Contingent serving with the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) makes its way through the city of Kismayo. On 02 October 2012, Kenyan AMISOM troops supporting forces of the Somali National Army and the pro-government Ras Kimboni Brigade moved into and through Kismayo, the hitherto last major urban stronghold of the Al-Qaeda-affiliated extremist group Al Shabaab, on their way to the city's airport without a shot being fired following a month long operation to liberate towns and villages across southern Somalia from Afmadow and Kismayo itself. Shabaab had for years used southern Somalia's charcoal industry to partly fund through high taxation, a brutal insurgency to overthrow the Somali government and impose a strict form of Sharia law across Somalia AU-UN IST PHOTO / STUART PRICE.