PARIS: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday renewed pledges to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, while acknowledging it was difficult to predict when it would happen.
Former president Barack Obama, under whom Blinken served in more junior roles, failed in his bid to close the prison at a US military base in Cuba, which became a symbol of excesses in the “war on terror” launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Blinken, on a visit to Paris, noted that only about 40 prisoners were left but said the issue remained “complicated” due to questions on where to send them.
“This is completely our position and we are working on this,” Blinken said when asked about closing the Guantanamo jail in a forum on the youth-oriented French network Brut.
“It’s the goal but I can’t guarantee the date. It’s simply the goal,” he said in French.
President Joe Biden’s White House in February launched a study into how to close the prison but it has been careful not to overpromise after the failure of Obama’s vow to get rid of it within one year of taking office in 2009.
The rival Republican Party quickly blocked Obama’s plans by restricting the ability of the United States to move prisoners from Guantanamo to the US mainland.
The prison, where inmates have recounted harsh interrogations, was set up under president George W. Bush for suspects captured around the world on the understanding they would not be entitled to the constitutional protections to due process guaranteed on US soil.
Obama’s successor Donald Trump mused about sending more suspects to Guantanamo Bay but in effect kept it in place in the same form.
Blinken says Guantanamo prison should close
https://arab.news/b86jm
Blinken says Guantanamo prison should close
- Former president Barack Obama, under whom Blinken served in more junior roles, failed in his bid to close the prison at a US military base in Cuba
- The prison, where inmates have recounted harsh interrogations, was set up under president George W. Bush for suspects captured around the world
UN chief Guterres warns ‘powerful forces’ undermining global ties
- Guterres paid tribute to Britain for its decisive role in the creation of the United Nations
- He said 2025 had been a “profoundly challenging year for international cooperation and the values of the UN“
LONDON: UN chief Antonio Guterres Saturday deplored a host of “powerful forces lining up to undermine global cooperation” in a London speech marking the 80th anniversary of the first UN General Assembly.
Guterres, whose term as secretary-general ends on December 31 this year, delivered the warning at the Methodist Central Hall in London, where representatives from 51 countries met on January 10, 1946, for the General Assembly’s first session.
They met in London because the UN headquarters in New York had not yet been built.
Guterres paid tribute to Britain for its decisive role in the creation of the United Nations and for continuing to champion it.
But he said 2025 had been a “profoundly challenging year for international cooperation and the values of the UN.”
“We see powerful forces lining up to undermine global cooperation,” he said, adding: “Despite these rough seas, we sail ahead.”
Guterres cited a new treaty on marine biological diversity as an example of continued progress.
The treaty establishes the first legal framework for the conservation and sustainable use of marine diversity in the two-thirds of oceans beyond national limits.
“These quiet victories of international cooperation — the wars prevented, the famine averted, the vital treaties secured — do not always make the headlines,” he said.
“Yet they are real. And they matter.”
