Latest transfers to Oman would leave the number of Guantanamo detainees at 45 (AFP Photo/PAUL J. RICHARDS)

Muscat (AFP) - Oman said it received 10 inmates from the US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay Monday, as outgoing President Barack Obama looks to reduce the number of prisoners there before leaving office. "To meet a request by the US government to assist in settling the issue of the detainees at Guantanamo, out of consideration of their humanitarian situation, 10 people released from that prison arrived in the Sultanate of Oman for a temporary residency," the foreign ministry statement said. The statement from the sultanate’s foreign ministry did not disclose the nationality of the prisoners who would reside in the Gulf Arab country on a temporary basis. Donald Trump, who will be inaugurated Friday as America's 45th president, said during his campaign that he not only wants to keep Guantanamo open but "load it up with some bad dudes." The latest transfers would leave the number of Guantanamo detainees at 45, based on figures the Pentagon issued when four Yemenis were sent to Saudi Arabia on January 6.
Oman receives 10 former detainees of the Guantanamo Bay detention camp following a request by the United States to take them.