The United States State Department announced Monday, July 19, that former Guantanamo prisoner Abd-al-Nisr Mohammed Khantumani has arrived in Cape Verde, and thanked Cape Verdean authorities for their willingness to accept the former inmate. In Cape Verde, the government has declined to comment on the case, alleging that it has nothing more to say about the issue.

Citing information from the Department of Defense, Portuguese news agency Lusa writes that Abd-al-Nisr Mohammed Khantumani’s transfer to Cape Verde was approved by all of the US federal agencies involved in the work group created by President Barack Obama to deal with former Guantanamo inmates whose home countries were deemed too dangerous for them to return to. The group is responsible for analyzing all of the individual cases from a perspective of security as the US government prepares to close its now infamous Guantanamo detention center.

On the same day as Khantumani was sent to Cape Verde, another former detainee, Abdul Aziz Naji, was sent back to his home country of Algeria. Until now, Portugal had been the only Portuguese-language country to accept relocated former Guantanamo detainees.

Government keeps quiet

The impending arrival of the former Guantanamo prisoner was first reported in the July 2 printed edition of A Semana. Prime Minister José Maria Neves, commenting on the news, admitted that the government had accepted this form of collaboration with the United States “given certain guarantees,” and assured that the decision did not represent “any danger whatsoever” to the country’s security. According to Neves, the decision was based on humanitarian concerns. “For all intents and purposes, this is a person with a certain age, and with some health problems,” he said.

Confirming Mohammed Khantumani’s presence in Cape Verde is not, however, proving to be an easy task. For security and other reasons, most government officials contacted by A Semana Online have refused to comment, alleging that the issue is not within their realm of responsibility.

One slightly bolder source told A Semana Online that the Syrian national is indeed in Cape Verde, but declined to reveal which city or island he had been taken to. “For security reasons, the government has nothing more to say on the issue. This former Guantanamo prisoner is going to live in Cape Verde under the same conditions as the ETA exiles,” said the source, ruling out the possibility that the individual may be housed in a prison establishment in the country.

US thanks Cape Verde and Algeria

A note from the US Department of Defense thanks “the governments of Algeria and Cape Verde for their willingness to support American efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay detention unit.”