DUBAI, Jan 16 (Reuters) - Oman announced on Monday that it had taken in 10 prisoners released by the United States from its Guantanamo Bay military prison, part of a push by outgoing President Barack Obama to shrink the inmate population before leaving office.

"To meet a request by the U.S. government to assist in settling the issue of the detainees at Guantanamo, out of consideration of their humanitarian situation, 10 people released from that prison arrived in the Sultanate of Oman for a temporary residency," a foreign ministry statement said.

(Reporting by Celine Aswad and Noah Browning; Editing by Jacqueline Wong) ((noah.browning@thomsonreuters.com;))