ARAB-US RELATIONS - Jan. 22 - US Faces Pressure Over Detainees At Cuba Base.

A report in The FT says: "A team from the International Committee of the Red Cross [ICRC] has informally advised the US it should improve the treatment of Afghanistan prisoners at its naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, regardless of whether the detainees are officially designated 'prisoners of war' [PoWs]". The advice was conveyed privately to US authorities by a 4-member team visiting the base. Capt. Tom Crosson, a spokesman for US Southern command in Miami, which is responsible for the Guantanamo Bay base, said on Jan. 21 that ICRC feedback to the US base commander appeared to have focused on "simple issues, such as ways to better implement security measures". But he added that the team's findings would remain private.

Meanwhile, an ICRC spokesman in Geneva suggested the US may have contravened an article of the Geneva Convention by exposing captives "to public curiosity" through the release of photos. In some of the strongest remarks yet among US allies, the EU on Jan. 21 said detainees at Guantanamo Bay should receive all the benefits offered by the Geneva Convention on the treatment of PoWs, with EU foreign policy chief representative Javier Solana telling Spanish TV: "We believe behaviour towards these people is dictated by international conventions". PoW status would guarantee detainees rights that can be denied if the US continues to insist they are "unlawful combatants".

The US has said prisoners taken in its war on terrorism do not conform to the convention's 4-point criteria for PoW status. On Jan. 22, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told a news conference the allegations of US mistreatment of Al Qaida and Taliban prisoners were "just plain false. No detainee has been harmed, no detainee has been mistreated in any way". He insisted that all international conventions on prisoner treatment were being respected. But he rejected calls to declare the detainees prisoners of war and refused to say how long they might be held or when formal charges might be brought against them. But ICRC spokesman Darcy Christen told BBC Radio the detainees were "absolutely" prisoners of war, and not "unlawful combatants". He added: "Any captured combatant has the presumption to be a prisoner of war," with all the protections that implies, at least until a competent court can decide on the matter. Rumsfeld defended, saying: "What's taking place down there is responsible, it's humane, it's legal, it's proper, it's consistent with the Geneva conventions. And after a period, that will sink in". But he added: "These men are extremely dangerous, particularly when being moved", and that only the most careful treatment could be expected.