BRUSSELS, Jan. 26 (Xinhua) -- The European Union (EU)
on Monday welcomed the U.S. decision to close the Guantanamo detention camp
within one year, but failed to reach a common position on how to assist the U.S.
administration on the issue.
"The primary responsibility for closing Guantanamo
rests with the United States ... but due to the legal situation, you can't give
a quick answer. By the way, there was no official request to the European Union
(from the United States)," Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg, whose
country holds the EU presidency, told a press conference after the first-day
talks of the EU foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels.
Schwarzenberg said the ministers discussed the ways
in which EU member states can assist Washington in closing the Guantanamo
detention center, but admitted that "there was nobody hot about this, that's
perfectly true."
Stressing "it is not a question which could be
resolved in weeks or months," he said it is up to each nation to decide what
they should do, including whether to accept the detainees now imprisoned in
Guantanamo.
"We have to clear up a lot of things with the other
side. There are a number of political, legal and security issues which need
further study," said Schwarzenberg, adding that the home and justice ministers
will have to get involved in the issue.
Also speaking at the press conference, European
Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner said that
Guantanamois an issue for individual EU member state, but "at the same time, we
would like to see some EU platform for a common response."
Describing the issue as "very delicate and
sensitive," Waldner said that the ministers would have to discuss during their
next meeting on the next moves.
On Jan. 22, U.S. President Barack Obama signed three
executive orders and a presidential directive, asking for the closure of the
controversial Guantanamo detention camp within one year, a systematic review of
detention policies and procedures and all individual cases, and a ban on harsh
interrogation methods.
The detention center was set up at a U.S. naval base
in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the
United States and the Bush administration's launch of the "war on terror."
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack
Obama issued executive orders to close the Guantanamo prison in Cuba on Thursday
that received welcome from human right activists and defense attorneys of
terrorist suspects who are held there.
Obama signed three executive orders and a presidential
directive, asking for the closure of the controversial facility within one year,
a systematic review of detention policies and procedures and all individual
cases, and a ban on harsh interrogation methods. Full story
WASHINGTON, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President Barack
Obama's designated Director of National Intelligence said on Thursday that he
supports president's order to close the Guantanamo prison and ban torture
interrogation.
Retired Adm. Dennis Blair told a hearing at the
Senate Intelligence Committee that he agrees with the president to close the
detention center at Guantanamo, which as he said has "become a damaging symbol
to the world." Full story
