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MORERO, SOMALIA- DECEMBER 2008 .Rough stone tracks mark the coastal routes out of Bossaso town. For the first few kilometres theylead down to dilapidated fish-processing plants, ice-making factories, leather works and boatyards that have long since closed following the decline of local industries. There is little reason totravel these roads and the journeys made on them are almost all clandestine. Checkpoints hiddenbehind boulders and in cliffs are manned by militia loyal to the smuggling gangs who control thelength of this lawless shore. Only trucks packed full of tahrib on their way to departure points forYemen, or the cars of the gang leaders, boat owners and organisers move here.Around thirty kilometres out of town as the road becomes more difficult to negotiate, the flatplains give way to mountains that are reputed to hide Al-Qaeda training camps and weaponscaches. Dropping down to sweeping sandy beaches on the turquoise Gulf of Aden, this is literallya smugglers' paradise. (KEYSTONE/NOOR/Alixandra Fazzina)