BERN, Switzerland -- Swiss officials visited the U.S. detention center at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, last month to gather information on captives the Alpine country is considering for resettlement once they are released, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Sunday.

The spokesman, Guido Balmer, however, declined to confirm the identities of the candidates. The Zurich weekly SonntagsZeitung said our men were under consideration -- two Chinese citizens, Muslims of the ethnic Uighur minority, an Uzbek and a Palestinian.

The United States has been seeking nations to resettle several dozen detainees among the 226 still at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba who are likely to be tortured or persecuted if they were repatriated to their native countries.

Ireland, Portugal, France, the Pacific island nation of Palau and Bermuda have already agreed to offer asylum to about a dozen since President Barack Obama announced plans to close the prison camps early next year.

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