Obama vows to close Guantanamo

Barack Obama has promised to shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, as human rights lawyers warn such a move would face a number of legal difficulties.

Obama told the CBS programme 60 Minutes on Sunday: "I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that.

"I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture.

"And I'm going to make sure that we don't torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world."

Obama had originally promised to shut the US prison while on the campaign trail, but his comments on Sunday were the first confirmation of his intentions since the November 4 election.

He did not, however, elaborate on where the Guantanamo detainees would be sent or whether they would be put on trial, or released.

Detainees stranded

Clive Stafford Smith, human rights lawyer Clive Stafford Smith, a human rights lawyer who has represented some of the Guantanamo detainees, warned that closing the prison was only the first step and that major hurdles still face the president-elect in dealing with the fall-out from the so-called "war on terror".