Austria: US govt must close Guantanamo
Austrian Foreign Minister Ursula Plassnik today urged the United States to close a prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay as soon as possible, warning against a legal vacuum created by the detention of inmates there.
Plassnik, speaking on bhalf of the European Union, told the European Parliament the US naval base in Cuba is seen as a “cause for genuine concern” by EU member states, and called the prison an “anomaly”.
“The US government must take the measures to close the camp as soon as possible,” said Plassnik, whose country holds the six-month rotating EU presidency.
Most political groups in the EU Parliament backed Plassnik’s call for Guantanamo to close.
The United States holds about 460 men at the isolated US naval base in Cuba on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban.
Ten of the prisoners have been charged.
Elmar Brok, the German conservative chairing the parliament’s foreign affairs committee, said the United States has made a genuine effort to address the Guantanamo issue and has improved the living conditions at the prison.
