Dutch will not take Guantanamo inmates: foreign ministry
(THE HAGUE) - The Netherlands will not accept former prisoners from Guantanamo Bay for resettlement after the US prison is closed, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.
"If they are not to be tried but cannot return to their own countries, it is first and foremost the responsibility of the country which arersted and imprisoned them, the United States," a spokesman told AFP.
He added however that the Netherlands was prepared to help consider how to guarantee a fair trial for those who remain to be judged.
The incoming US president, Barack Obama, has promised to close down the detention facility for terror suspects after he comes to office next month, raising the question of what to do with the remaining 250 inmates.
Some of the prisoners, alleged "enemy combattants" captured by US and allied forces around the world during the so-called War on Terror, are no longer considered a threat by US authorities and will need to be resettled.
On Tuesday, the US State Department welcomed signals from Germany and Portugal that they might be prepared to help out, raising the possibility that other European allies might provide asylum for former detainees.
France said Wednesday that European Union states should agree a common position on whether and how to accept former prisoners from Guantanamo Bay.
France currently holds the European Union's rotating presidency, but is due to hand over to the Czech Republic next week, and French officials indicated that no joint decision on Guantanamo detainees would be taken beforehand.
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