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BERLIN, Dec 3 (AFP): US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrives in Germany Monday to start a four-country tour expected to be dogged by questions about reports of secret CIA prison camps and 'torture flights'.
Rice has promised to provide responses to European countries increasingly concerned that airports on their soil have been used for flights allegedly carrying undeclared detainees in the US-led 'war on terror'.
The German government said on Friday that it was expecting an explanation from Rice, but not while she is in Berlin for talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel Tuesday.
The United States this week acknowledged the European concerns, calling them 'legitimate questions' that deserved a response.
Germany is home to the largest US airbase in Europe, Ramstein, and press reports have said that as many as 80 flights which were possibly carrying terror suspects landed or took off from airports in the country.
Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier has adopted a cautious approach to the reports, saying he can only deal in facts, not speculation.
Irish Foreign Minister Dermot Ahern said Thursday that he believed Rice would make a statement on the secret prison claims during her European visit.
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