CIA furore 'storm in a teacup'

2005-12-03 20:29

Bucharest - Concerns over alleged secret CIA prisons in Eastern Europe and elsewhere are overblown, Romania's foreign minister Razvan Ungureanu said on Saturday ahead of a visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"For us, it is a storm in a teacup," Ungureanu said.

Rice will be in Romania on Tuesday to sign an agreement on putting US military bases in the former communist country, part of a European trip during which she is likely to face persistent questioning about the alleged jails.

Romania has been named by rights groups as a country that has allegedly hosted secret CIA prisons, holding suspects in Washington's anti-terrorism efforts.

Ungureanu said he was "tired of repeating that all Romanian officials who could have been involved in such an enterprise have denied such involvement", adding that he would not ask Rice about the issue.

"This is not part of our bilateral agenda," the minister said.

"But I understand that the United States is ready to answer harsh questions from those who are sceptical about the value of the transatlantic relationship," he added.

Ungureanu said the agreement Rice was to sign would be the first in Washington's redeployment of some of its European-based forces from the west towards Eastern Europe and Asia.

Romanian wants "to place itself under the security umbrella of Nato", Ungureanu said.

He said Romanian politicians agreed on housing US troops and that there had been no criticism of this from the country's opposition left.

"This agreement is a fulfilment of Romanian wishes since 60 years," namely the desire to see US troops land in order to deliver them from the former communist regime, Ungureanu said.

"It is what my grandparents were waiting for as well as all those who died in communist prisons understanding that their sacrifice was for the values of democracy."

- AFP