GENEVA, Jan 10: The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which guarantees the Geneva Conventions, said on Saturday it saw little change after the United States formally declared ex-Iraqi president Saddam Hussein a prisoner of war.

"The formal announcement that he is a prisoner of war changes nothing from our perspective," ICRC spokesman Ian Piper said.

Mr Piper pointed out that Saddam Hussein was already entitled to visits from ICRC delegates to check on his conditions, including a private interview without the presence of guards.

The agency said on Dec 30 it had asked for access to the former Iraqi leader. "We haven't visited him," Mr Piper said.

The right is extended under the Geneva Conventions to all people captured in a conflict, not only combatants regarded as prisoners of war, Mr Piper added.

There are four conventions, commonly known as the laws of war, including one laying out humane treatment for prisoners of war.

The third Geneva Convention underlines the responsibility of the "detaining power" - in this case the United States.

It says that prisoners are only bound to give their name, rank, date of birth and equivalent information, and forbids physical or mental torture, or "any other form of coercion... to secure from them any kind of information whatever".

"Prisoners of war who refuse to answer may not be threatened, insulted or exposed to any unpleasant or disadvantageous treatment of any kind", the convention adds.

An ICRC spokeswoman in Iraq, Nada Doumani, said it was now essential for the US-led authority to ensure that Saddam Hussein was granted rights enshrined in the Geneva Conventions.

"The prisoner of war status granted to Saddam Hussein is judicially acceptable because he was head of the Iraqi armed forces," Mr Doumani said, speaking from the Jordanian capital.

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was informed on Friday that Pentagon lawyers concluded over the past weeks that Saddam Hussein met the definition of an enemy prisoner of war under the Geneva Conventions, a Pentagon spokesman said.

However, the ICRC said last month that it expected Saddam Hussein to be treated like any other Iraqi prisoner of war detained by US forces.-AFP