Foreign Minister Call on US To Close Gitmo

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Foreign Minister Call on US To Close Gitmo

Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit

June 13, 2006: The Irish Times
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/world/2006/0613/2323620625FR13EUGUANTANAMO.html

Foreign ministers call for closure of detention centre

by Jamie Smyth in Luxembourg

EU: EU foreign ministers called for the closure of the US detention
centre at Guantánamo Bay in Cuba yesterday following the suicide of
three inmates at the weekend. Ministers also agreed that the future of
the camp would be discussed in detail at the upcoming EU/US summit in
Vienna next week.

Austrian foreign minister Ursula Plassnik said the camp was an anomaly
for a state such as the US, which normally respected the rule of law and
human rights, and should be closed as soon as possible.


External Relations commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner also said the
plant should be closed, while Luxembourg's foreign minister, Jean
Asselborn, criticised a statement by a US official on Sunday that the
suicides were a "PR move".

"It's hard to understand why when three people kill themselves, that is
an attack on America. Something has to change in the American
mentality," said Mr Asselborn.

Minister for Foreign Affairs Dermot Ahern said he had been the first EU
foreign minister to call publicly for the closure of Guantánamo. "I
asked the British to raise the issue with the US when they held the EU
presidency people are entitled to a fair trial," he said.

Speaking ahead of a Dáil debate on the CIA's rendition of prisoners
through European airports, Mr Ahern said the two issues were not linked.
He said the Government had no intention of setting up an inspection
regime to check if renditions were taking place.

"It is not a matter of protecting our political or economic interests -
we have cast iron guarantees from the Americans. We see no point in
setting up something that would probably be impossible to police anyway
given the large number of flights in and out of the country."

Meanwhile, EU foreign ministers made the formal decision to deploy
almost 2,000 troops to support the UN-sponsored election in the
Democratic Republic of Congo. Germany and France will each contribute
about 800 soldiers, with the remainder coming from up to 16 other
states, including 10 from Ireland.

About 17,000 UN peacekeepers are already based in the Congo, attempting
to maintain order after a bitter civil war broke out in 1998. Aid
workers say more than 1,000 people continue to die every day, mostly
from hunger and disease, adding to the four million killed during the
previous conflict.

© The Irish Times

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