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Five Uighurs don't want resettlement in Palau: president
Koror (AFP) June 22, 2009 Five of 13 Guantanamo Bay detainees set for resettlement in the tiny Pacific nation of Palau do not want to go there, President Johnson Toribiong said Monday. Palau said earlier this month it had agreed to take the detainees, members of the Chinese Muslim Uighur ethnic group. But Toribiong said only eight of 13 Uighur detainees destined for Palau had agreed to be interviewed by a delegation of Palau officials who visited the controversial US detention centre at Guantanamo Bay last week. "A handful may not come," Toribiong told reporters. He declined to discuss whether arrangements had been made for the transfer of the detainees, who were cleared of any wrongdoing by the US four years ago. Palau politicians and traditional chiefs are due to be briefed on the delegation's visit to Guantanamo on Tuesday, with a press conference a day later. Toribiong insisted the public feedback on the resettlement had been positive, despite some speaking out against his decision. "Those who oppose it are misinformed," he added. "Had I said no to President Obama, what do you think would have been the consequences?" Toribiong said, without giving details. He reiterated the decision was not related to upcoming negotiations on future US aid to Palau, which Washington administered until independence in 1994. The detainees were part of a group of 22 Uighurs living in a self-contained camp in Afghanistan when the US-led invasion of the country began in October 2001, in the wake of the September 11 attacks that year. They said they had fled to Afghanistan to escape persecution in their vast home region of Xinjiang in western China. The US declined to return them to China, fearing they could be tortured. US President Barack Obama has promised to shut down Guantanamo by January, and Washington has been pushing for other countries to accept inmates with no charges against them. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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