He said he is working with US allies in the European Union to develop a plan to close the facility, where suspected terrorists are being held. He says he wants to close the facility by January of next year, although he faces questions about what to do with the detainees.

'Chancellor Merkel has been very open to discussions with us,' Mr Obama said. 'We have not asked her for hard commitments, and she has not given us any hard commitments beyond having a serious discussion ... and I don't anticipate that it's going to be resolved anytime in the next two or three months.'

Washington has asked Germany to take a dozen prisoners, although ms Merkel's interior minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, has been unenthusiastic about doing so.

Mr Schaeuble said on Friday that the information the United States has offered so far is insufficient for Germany to take detainees.

He said after a meeting of state security officials in Bremerhaven that he had to make a decision in the public interest and that means 'that we do not lessen the security of the country.

It must be assured sufficiently that additional dangers do not arise from taking them in.' He also argued that prisoners should be able to show some kind of connection to Germany before they are accepted. -- AP