ALGIERS, Algeria — U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice urged closer coordination with North African allies on fighting terrorism and said Saturday that the U.S. would work to return Guantanamo detainees to their home countries “as soon as we possibly can.”
“There is always more that you can do to tighten sharing of information and make sure you have all the right channels to give technical support” against terrorism, she said after stops in Algeria and Tunisia.
Rice’s three-day visit is her first as America’s top diplomat to a region of increasing strategic importance. It comes as the threat posed by militants has grown “even more salient in the recent months,” she said.
In a landmark trip Friday to Libya that ended 30 years of confrontation with Moammar Khadafy’s rule and in meetings with the Tunisian and Algerian presidents, Rice heard about North African detainees still held at Guantanamo or those returned from the military prison to their home countries.
Rice said the U.S. was coordinating with North African governments to empty the prison.
“We would like to move as much of the population of Guantanamo out as soon as we possibly can,” she told reporters after talks with Algeria’s president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. “We would like to, but we also have to remember that we have an obligation not to have dangerous people on the streets.”
