Al-Shabaab has taken over much of Mogadishu and southern Somalia, and is on a U.S.government list of international terrorist groups.

VOA: standard.2009.06.26

The French government said they were in Mogadishu working as security advisors to Somalia's U.N.-backed transitional government.

VOA: standard.2009.08.26

In September,a power struggle erupted in violence in the lower Juba region between al-Shabab and Hizbul Islam, a clan-based Islamist-nationalist group which had been al-Shabab's main ally in its year-long battle to overthrow the U.N.-backed government in Mogadishu.

VOA: standard.2010.01.02

It may, however, have contributed to the politically cataclysmic loss of 18 U.S. servicemen in Mogadishu.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Center For Security Policy

She said she looks forward to the re-establishment of a permanent U.S. diplomatic presence in Mogadishu.

CNN: After more than 2 decades, U.S. recognizes Somalia

Somalia, in particular, is being touted as a success story by the Obama administration, which renewed U.S. diplomatic relations this week with Mogadishu for the first time in 20 years.

WSJ: Terror Threat Prompts U.S. Rethink on Africa