Romania has demanded Human Rights Watch produce evidence for the group's allegations that the Balkan country may have hosted secret CIA prisons, Foreign Minister Razvan Ungureanu said Sunday.

The US-based group said in November that the US intelligence agency CIA may have detained terror suspects in secret prisons in two countries, possibly Romania and Poland.

Both countries denied the allegations while Washington has declined to confirm or deny the existence of the jails.

"We have shown willingness to any attempts to check that something like this exists," Ungureanu told a news conference.

"It's time to ask officially, other than in a dialogue between the embassy and Human Rights Watch, for very clear evidence," he said.

The allegations came as Romania is scheduled to sign a deal with the United States on setting up US military bases in the Black Sea country as part of Washington's plan to move its European military facilities closer to hot spots in the Middle East.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will visit Bucharest next Tuesday to seal the agreement during a trip to Europe.

(Xinhua News Agency December 5, 2005)