EU divided about accepting Gitmo prisoners

LUXEMBOURG, April 7 (UPI) -- EU members said they remained divided about whether they would take detainees from the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, U.S. military prison

Most EU justices and interior ministers meeting Monday in Luxembourg said their countries were reticent to accept the prisoners, despite U.S. President Barack Obama's call for the organization's help on the issue, The EUobserver reported Tuesday.

"As a national state, we don't accept anybody," said Czech Interior Minister Ivan Langer, whose country holds the European Union's rotating presidency. "On the other hand, we are the presidency and we look for a coordinated approach."

The Guantanamo Bay prison has held more than 750 prisoners from around the world since 2002 and has been widely denounced on humanitarian and legal grounds. Shortly after his inauguration, Obama announced he would close the facility in January 2010.

Some 250 people remain detained at the facility. The United States reportedly will keep about 60 inmates but Obama asked the EU community to accept some of the detainees, the EUobserver said.

"Meeting that goal (of closing Guantanamo) would be made much easier as EU member states work with my team to accept some transferred detainees," Obama said Sunday during the EU-U.S. summit in the Czech Republic. "That's why it is so urgent that the European Council issue a common position supporting the right of your member states to accept detainees if they so choose."