The Uighurs will be allowed to integrate with their host community once in Palau. They will be allowed to freely roam around the island-nation, work and even build a family as part of their reintegration process to become productive members of the mainstream society.
U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Nick Rahall said they met with Palau officials during their three-day visit there prior to coming to Saipan last Saturday.
“We did travel to Palau. We met with the governor there and the Compact of Free Association Commission. We also met with the members of their legislature in regards to our relationship with Palau. It’s a very important relationship and one that we continue to nurture. They made a great deal of progress since their liberation,” said Rahall.
Issues about bilateral agreements, including that of the impending transfer of at least 15 Uighur detainees from Guantanamo Bay to Palau were discussed during their visit in Palau.
The 15 are part of the 34 Uighurs, an ethnic minority Muslim tribe in northern China, who were captured eight years ago in Afghanistan and Pakistan on suspicion they had undergone weapons training in Taliban camps.
The U.S. later declared the Uighur detainees as noncombatants but it refused to turn them over to China where they will face persecution.
Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo said the Uighurs will be allowed to integrate with their host community once in Palau.
“So far, there are 15 detainees that they are looking at and six have agreed to come to Palau. They are going to be free and roam around and work,” she said.
“These are individuals that would have been situated elsewhere become productive and working members of the community such as in Bermuda and there seems to be now in near agreement. Their concerns would be taken into account. The lawyers for them [Uighur detainees] and the lawyers from Palau are approaching an agreement as we understand it,”Rahall added.
His group left Saipan yesterday afternoon for Guam where they are scheduled to meet with officials there regarding the multi-billion-dollar military buildup project in the Marianas region.
