OSLO, April 27 (Xinhua) -- NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said Friday that the alliance was not suspending the transfer of prisoners to the Afghan authorities despite allegations that the prisoners were mistreated at the hands of the Afghan government.

    "In my personal view, there is no reason to suspend the transfer of detainees on the basis on the allegations we have seen," he told reporters, adding that the allegations are not facts.

    He said he was happy that the Afghan government was ready to launch an inquiry into the allegations. NATO forces are in Afghanistan to defend universal values, including proper treatment of detainees, he said.

    De Hoop Scheffer said Canadian Foreign Minister Peter Gordon MacKay raised the issue of prisoner mistreatment at the ongoing NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Oslo.