Yemen unrest will not derail plans to close Guantánamo Bay prison

Ongoing instability in Yemen should not derail plans to close the Guantánamo Bay detention facility, Barack Obama’s former envoy for the closure urged on Monday.

Clifford Sloan, who resigned on 31 December as the State Department’s special envoy for shuttering the infamous detention center, said the 47 Yemenis currently approved for transfer would not be returned to their home country.

“The focus with regard to the Yemenis at Guantánamo has been on resettling them to other countries, because of the perilous security situation in Yemen. That was true before the very recent events as well as since the very recent events,” Sloan told the Guardian in an interview on Monday.

Since Houthi rebels overran the capital of Sana’a last week and ousted the US-backed president, Republican congressional opponents of the long-stalled closure have seized on Yemen’s compounding chaos to argue against transfers from Guantánamo. Yemenis comprise the largest nationality represented within the 54 remaining detainees whom six executive agencies unanimously approved for release in 2010.

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jan/26/yemen-unrest-derail-guantanamo-bay-prison-detainees