European ministers satisfied with Rice CIA explanation
(AFP)
Updated: 2005-12-08 17:06

European foreign ministers voiced concerns to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice over the CIA prisons row in talks in Brussels, but were satisfied with her explanations, ministers said.

The expressions of satisfaction came as NATO ministers including Rice gathered for a day of formal talks which had threatened to be clouded by the controversy.

"Very satisfied," said Dutch Foreign Minister Ben Bot, when asked whether he was happy with Rice's explanations at a closed-door dinner in Brussels on Wednesday evening. Bot had been one of the most concerned before the talks.

"European ministers voiced their concerns that there should not be a different interpretation of international law," said Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier, arriving for a day of NATO talks.

Wednesday evening's dinner was "very satisfactory for all of us," he said, adding that the talks were "open."

Rice is on the last leg of a four-country European tour dogged by the allegations that the CIA had operated secret prisons in Europe and used European airports to secretly shuttle terror suspects to countries where they might be tortured.

The European Union's British presidency has asked for formal clarification of US policy.

In an attempt to preempt pressure in Brussels, Rice made a statement on the torture issue shortly before arriving in Brussels Wednesday afternoon.

Specifically Rice said that Washington's obligations under an international convention prohibiting cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment "extend to US personnel wherever they are, whether they are in the US or outside the US."

"It is also US policy that authorized interrogation will be consistent with US obligations under the Convention Against Torture, which prohibit cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment," she said in Kiev.

Arriving for Thursday's talks, Slovak Foreign Minister said the dinner with Rice had been "very useful."

Rice herself made no comment as she arrived for the talks, set to focus on a deal to expand a NATO-led peacekeeping force into Afghanistan's more volatile south, where the US is keen for NATO to ease pressure on its stretched forces.

Late Wednesday Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht had also said the ministers were happy with Rice's explanations.

"All said they were satisfied with the explanations that were given" by Rice, De Gucht told journalists, though stressing that nothing much new had been said at the dinner.