Obama Softens Guantanamo Pledge (Al Jazeera, QATAR)

Barack Obama, the US president-elect, has appeared to soften his election campaign promise to shut the US detention camp in Guantanamo Bay as one of his first acts as US president, saying its closure would be "a challenge".

"It is more difficult than a lot of people realise ..." Obama said during an interview aired on Sunday with US broadcaster ABC.

"I think it's going to take some time ... but I don't want to be ambiguous about this - we are going to close Guantanamo," he told the This Week programme.

Sunday also marked the seventh anniversary of the first prisoners arriving at Guantanamo.

Demonstrations calling for the closure of Guantanamo Bay occurred around the world on Sunday. Amnesty International, the international rights organisation, held a protest outside the US embassy in Madrid, the Spanish capital, calling on Obama to investigate allegations of abuse at the prison.

Rallies also took place in Montreal, London and Lima, in Peru.

In Washington DC organisers of a protest said that 60 protesters had also begun a nine-day fast in support of Obama keeping his promise to close the prison.

The Cuba-based camp, which has been widely criticised amid reports of inmates being tortured and abused, was opened in 2002 to hold prisoners captured during the Bush administration's so-called "war on terror" in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Among problems to be dealt with are how the US legally resolves ongoing military tribunals and the fate of about 60 detainees that US officials have approved for transfer to their home countries, Obama said.

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