Somalia to create Iraq-style "Green Zone" (Alertnet)

By Andrew Cawthorne and Sahal Abdulle

NAIROBI, Aug 14 (Reuters) - The Somali government is trying to create a Baghdad-style safe "Green Zone" in Mogadishu to protect senior officials and foreign visitors from insurgent attacks, Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi said on Tuesday.

In an interview with Reuters, the Somali premier also accused U.S.-based Human Rights Watch of "abusing" his government and siding with radical Islamists in a report alleging war crimes against Mogadishu's population.

Insurgents have been fighting Gedi's government, and its Ethiopian military allies, since Islamists were toppled from Mogadishu at the end of 2006 after a brief, six-month rule.

To counter the threat of attacks, a security zone was being set up in the bullet-scarred coastal capital, Gedi said.

"At the moment, the government security agencies are trying to create a Green Zone where international community workers, and those vulnerable, can stay for their security purposes," he said, without giving more details.

"I hope that we will achieve positive results very soon." ..more..