Germany won't take in Gitmo inmates yet

DRESDEN, Germany, June 5 (UPI) -- Germany will not accept prisoners from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, anytime soon, according to leaders from both nations.

"We have not asked (German Chancellor Angela Merkel) for hard commitments" on accepting prisoners from Guantanamo, U.S. President Barack Obama said Friday, "and she has not given us any hard commitments."

Speaking in a joint news conference with Merkel in Dresden, eastern Germany, Obama said Merkel had been "very open" to the issue but added that he doesn't expect the issue to be resolved in the next two or three months.

Merkel sounded a bit more upbeat when she said she was convinced that the inmates would eventually be accepted. She added German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was currently working with his U.S. counterpart to find a solution for the inmates.

"Germany has always been committed … to have Guantanamo closed," she said.

Obama promised in January he would have the infamous military prison closed down within a year.

Washington wants European nations to take in roughly 50 to 60 inmates. These prisoners -- from nations including Libya, China and Algeria -- can't return home because they could face abuse or torture there or because their governments are unwilling to take them back. Washington says the inmates are harmless.

EU member states likely will be able to individually decide whether to take inmates in, but that won't relieve the 27-member bloc of a joint coordination on the issue. Once taken in by one country, the former inmates, thanks to the Schengen agreement, would be able to travel and resettle anywhere in the EU.