UN head cheers US review of Guantanamo detainees

ROME, July 13 (Reuters) UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan today welcomed a US military order to apply basic provisions of the Geneva Conventions to detainees at Guantanamo Bay, saying it strengthened the rule of law.

''The Secretary-General believes that this decision strengthens the international rule of law, and is true to the US's strong tradition of respect for civil liberties,'' Annan's spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in a statement.

Annan, who is on a visit to Rome, has in the past called for the United States to close Guantanamo Bay as quickly as possible.

The US Supreme Court ruled last month that Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applies to Guantanamo prisoners and in a memo made public on Tuesday, a top Pentagon official ordered military personnel to apply it to all detainees.

The Geneva Conventions are international treaties to limit the barbarity of war. Common Article 3 sets minimum standards for humane treatment of everyone caught up in armed conflict, including civilians and irregular forces.

''Strict compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law in no way contradicts or undermines efforts to counter terrorism,'' Annan's spokesman said.

''On the contrary (it) is essential to the success of those efforts.'' President George W Bush declared in 2002 that Article 3 did not apply to al Qaeda and Taliban detainees held at Guantanamo, but ordered that they be treated humanely ''subject to military necessity''.

But treatment of inmates at the US military base, which some have said amounted to torture, has come under fierce criticism and sparked calls for Guantanamo's closure.

REUTERS SHB PM1742