UK call to help close Guantanamo

It is thought about 50 detainees have been cleared for release

The British government is pressing European countries to help resettle inmates from Guantanamo Bay detention centre, the Foreign Office has said.

The incoming US president, Barack Obama, has said he plans to close the camp, which houses about 250 suspects.

Some 50 inmates at the US camp in Cuba are said to have been cleared for release but the US cannot repatriate them due to risk of mistreatment.

Portugal has offered to take some and Germany is considering following suit.

Britain has not overtly offered asylum, but said it accepted the US would need help closing down the facility.

'Legal difficulties'

The Foreign Office said: "We have made it clear that we think Guantanamo Bay should be closed.

"We recognise the legal, technical and other difficulties and that the US will require assistance from allies and partners to make this happen."

An article in the Times newspaper quotes a Downing Street official saying Britain was putting in place a process to deal with detainees and decisions "would be for the home secretary on a case-by-case basis".

It also quotes a Whitehall source as saying: "Of course the Foreign Office wants to do it, they want to get off to a good start with Obama.

"This is the sort of thing that will require a Cabinet-level decision."

It is understood some suspects will be tried on US mainland, but others, who have been cleared for release, have not been accepted by their home countries or neutral countries.

For example, the US said a group of Muslim Uighurs from western China's Xinjiang province could be freed.

But the only country willing to take them is China where the men fear they could face persecution as dissidents.

Britain has taken back all British nationals and also four inmates who were formerly British residents though not nationals.

The Foreign Office said it was continuing to press for the release of the two remaining former British residents.

Terrorism links

In an open letter in December, Portugal's foreign minister urged fellow EU states to accept Guantanamo detainees.

The German foreign ministry later said it was looking into the legal, political and practical implications of such a move.

BBC World Affairs correspondent Mike Wooldridge said it was understood there were some divisions in Europe over the issue.

The matter may be raised at a meeting of the EU's general affairs and external relations council later this month.

The US has made no formal request to the EU, and there is unlikely to be one before the Obama administration takes office.

The president-elect has indicated that he wants the camp - where men suspected of links to terrorism or al-Qaeda have been held without trial as "unlawful enemy combatants" - to be closed within two years.