Red Cross working with U.S. on Guantanamo

GENEVA (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is working with the U.S. administration on the closure of the Guantanamo prison and protecting prisoners' rights, its president Jakob Kellenberger said.

The Red Cross had welcomed President Barack Obama's decision to close Guantanamo and respect the Geneva Conventions, Kellenberger told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday.

"It's certainly good news that Guantanamo will be closed, provided -- that goes without saying -- there will not a Guantanamo in a different place," he said.

Kellenberger said the Red Cross, whose mandate includes visiting prisoners of war and ensuring their treatment is humane, had had access to the prison from the start. The first captured al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters arrived in January 2002.

The Red Cross visited the facility, which became a symbol of detainee abuse and detention without charge under the previous administration of George W. Bush, every few months, with visits lasting between two and six weeks, according to Kellenberger.

Over the years the Red Cross had achieved some improvements in detention conditions, which he declined to specify, although many problems remained, he said.

Obama announced the closure of Guantanamo on January 22, two days after his inauguration, and ordered a crackdown on harsh interrogation methods and the elimination of CIA detention centers.

Kellenberger said he had been to Washington in April and met the cabinet secretaries involved in the panels handling these three issues. The Red Cross had submitted working papers to the panels to help them.

"We have an administration which is very open to dialogue," he said.

(Reporting by Jonathan Lynn)