Rice to visit Europe amid concern over CIA prisons
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-11-29 11:11

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will make a swing next week through Europe, where she will likely find herself on the firing line over reports of secret CIA prisons for terror suspects.

Amid a growing uproar over reports of clandestine facilities and transport flights in Europe, the State Department vowed Monday to answer queries "in as complete and forthright a manner as we possibly can."

Washington has so far kept silent, but McCormack said Rice was ready to discuss the reports with US allies as he announced her five-day visit to Germany, Romania, Ukraine and Belgium for a NATO meeting.

"We have received inquiries from Europe concerning these press reports," he said. "We're going to do our best to answer these questions in as complete and forthright a manner as we possibly can."

McCormack gave no indication whether Rice would go beyond the familiar US line, neither confirming nor denying the existence of the interrogation centers but defending tough action in the war on terror.

"I think that the conversation will take place in the broader context of our common struggle against terrorism," he told reporters at the department's daily briefing.

"This is a struggle that all free countries, including the countries of Europe, share with us: how to deal with groups of people, individuals, that respect no law, that wear no uniform, that follow no regulations."

The question is likely to figure prominently on a tour also featuring a get-acquainted meeting with the new German Chancellor Angela Merkel aimed at repairing relations bruised by the Iraq war.

Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick will precede Rice to Germany, meeting Wednesday and Thursday with Merkel and other officials as well as members of parliament.

The prison reports have caused an uproar in Europe, with European Union Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini threatening sanctions Monday for any EU nation housing such facilities.

Frattini said the EU had contacted the White House several days ago but had received no formal assurance the reports were untrue.

The Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly has launched its own probe and about a dozen European countries have begun looking into reports of flights of CIA transport planes carrying suspected Islamic extremists.

McCormack declined to say how Washington would convey its response to the European concerns, whether it would be a formal statement or come through Rice's discussions.

"We're going to try to get back to them, like I said, in response to their queries," he said. "I don't have any detail. I don't have details on what manner of response there will be."

Rice will get an early taste of European concern when she meets Tuesday in Washington with German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and two days later with Ireland's chief diplomat Dermot Ahern.

While withholding judgment on the reports, including unconfirmed tales of inflight torture sessions, Steinmeier told reporters: "It can be assumed the seriousness of the debate (in Europe) is being acknowledged in Washington."

Ahern's spokesman said the Irish minister would seek assurances from Rice that US planes using Shannon airport have not been carrying terror suspects for the CIA as cited in media reports.

The prison issue was likely to dog Rice in Romania, one of the countries mentioned in the media as a possible host to the clandestine interrogation facilities.

But McCormack made no mention of the possibility, saying only that Rice's first trip to Romania would "continue our dialogue on a broad range of issues with this important NATO ally."