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A closed-off area at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. - Source: Reuters -
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The European Union struggled to show a united front on Guantanamo as some states said the bloc should help new US President Barack Obama close the jail by taking in inmates, while others refused.
France called for the bloc's anti-terror chief to coordinate the European response, while the Czech EU Presidency insisted it would be up to each country to decide whether to accept detainees from the prison.
Obama last week ordered the closing within a one-year deadline of the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, viewed by many as a symbol of abuses carried out in the name of the Bush administration's war on terror.
"We need to shake hands with the United States. It is a new fresh start," Finland's Alexander Stubb said on arrival at a meeting of EU foreign ministers.
Stubb said the EU should look at taking in those inmates who have not been tried for anything but cannot go back home, and assess any requests for refugee status.
They number 55-60, including Chinese Muslim Uighurs who Washington says cannot return to China because they would face persecution, together with Libyans, Uzbeks and Algerians also seen at risk.
The Bush administration tried in vain to persuade EU allies to take some of them, but EU governments, who have for years called for the camp to be closed, now want to mend ties with the United States that were damaged in disputes about the way the Bush administration waged its "war on terrorism".
"This is an American problem and they have to solve it but we'll be ready to help if necessary ... I think the answer of the EU will be 'yes'," EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said, asked if the bloc would be willing to take some detainees.
But some countries, including the Netherlands and Austria, have said that they were still not ready to take in inmates and the German government is split on the issue.
"It is not an easy question and it is up to each nation what they will decide," Karel Schwarzenberg, Foreign Minister for the Czech EU Presidency told reporters ahead of closed-doors talks aimed at presenting a united European front on the issue.
Ministers said they were still waiting for the new US administration to make a formal request to take inmates.
Gitmo neighbour?
EU diplomats pointed out that taking in inmates carried legal and security implications and could prompt a public backlash despite strong support for Obama across the bloc.
"Honestly, I'm not sure that you'd like to have a Guantanamo detainee as a neighbour, even if you're told: 'Hey, he's a nice guy'," said one senior EU diplomat who was nonetheless in favour of the bloc taking in some inmates.
"Even if we are told that they are not dangerous, after seven years (in Guantanamo), they must be pretty angry," he said. "If I was in the Interior Ministry I'd have the police crawling all over them and they would have to come every month or every week to the police to say what they are up to."
The diplomat added that EU states should only take inmates that could easily fit into their host country. Taking North African detainees into European countries which already had large communities from that region would be easier than finding homes for the Uighurs, he said.
France wants EU anti-terrorism coordinator Gilles de Kerchove to travel to the US to mediate between Washington and EU states over Guantanamo detainees, a French diplomat said.
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