Albania and Guantanamo

The BBC carried a couple of reports yesterday by Neil Arun on inmates from Guantanamo who have been granted asylum in Albania. The first, Guantanamo Uighers' Strange Odyssey, focuses on three of the five men who arrived last summer.

The men were initially unsettled by the prospect of settling in Albania.

"We were scared because we thought Albania would be like China - we heard it had gone through 50 years of communism," Abu Bakr says.

But they say they were pleasantly surprised. "We've received a lot of help here," Adil says. "Albanian people are very welcoming and there are many Muslim brothers here."

"Albania is a poor country," Abu Bakr says. "But it showed itself to be strong in standing up to the Chinese."

The men plan to learn the Albanian language and eventually find work here. Locals talk of hiring them in the security industry. Others say they could cash in on their "celebrity" by establishing Albania's first Uighur restaurant.

The second, Albanian Fix For Guantanamo Dilemma, looks more generally at the practice of transferring inmates from Guantanamo to Albania. Noting that eight former inmates have already been transferred to Albania, Arun claims that

experts say dozens of men due to be released from Guantanamo could soon follow suit because of US concerns over human rights in their home countries.

According to Col Maurice Davis, the Pentagon's chief prosecutor, the US plans to prosecute around 75 of the roughly 400 inmates remaining in Guantanamo. That leaves more than 300 who will presumably be released eventually. Since most of these come from countries with dubious human rights records they will have to go to third countries. But are they all going to be coming to Albania?