20120807 AP MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Residents of Mogadishu are celebrating the one-year mark since Islamist militants were forced out of the capital.
It was last Aug. 6 that al-Shabab fighters fled the city in the face of military pressure from African Union and Somali forces. On Monday thousands of Somalis gathered in a Mogadishu sports stadium to celebrate a victory that ushered in a year of relative peace and progress.
Over the last year, sports leagues began and the national theater reopened. New beachside restaurants invited in customers for seafood.
Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, addressing the stadium crowd, thanked troops from Uganda, Burundi, Djibouti and Ethiopia for helping in the fight against al-Shabab.
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