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| Africa Horn |
| Somalia to create Iraq-style "Green Zone" |
| 2007-08-15 |
| 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. 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 Gedi said government forces were winning the battle against insurgents and were now involved in "cleaning up" some 200 to 300 hardcore fighters left in Mogadishu and its surroundings. 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. Gedi was angry at a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on Monday, saying his troops and their Ethiopian allies were responsible -- together with insurgents -- for widespread crimes against Mogadishu residents during this year's fighting. "I completely reject what they've said," he said. "Themselves, they abuse governments," Gedi added, arguing that HRW had wilfully ignored any positive aspects of his government's record like an ongoing peace conference, the set-up of local administrations, and aid to refugees. They had also ignored crimes by the Islamic Courts during their rule of Mogadishu, including killing and displacing people, destroying property, denying women's rights, using child soldiers, and banning cinema and sports-viewing, he said. "It seems that the Human Rights Watch or groups are in line with opportunistic people who ... want to keep Somalia in a vacuum, to be a safe haven for terrorist activities." |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #2 The Somali government is trying to create a Baghdad-style safe "Green Zone" in Mogadishu... How about a country-wide Death Zone instead. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2007-08-15 13:00 |
| #1 Out of all the things to copy. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2007-08-15 00:52 |