Palau leader details latest Uighur relocation at UN
Updated
The President of Palau has now confirmed that six of the Chinese Uighurs being held in military detention at Guantanamo Bay have agreed to relocate to his country. Earlier this month, lawyers representing the remaining Chinese Uighur Muslims said three of them had accepted an offer to relocate to Palau. There are an estimated 13 Uighurs still held in US military detention, who China has labelled terrorists.
When first offered the opportunity to move to Palau, some Uighurs declined - concerned about how close it is to mainland China. But speaking during a press conference at the United Nations in New York, Palau's President Johnson Toribiong says now six of them have decided to move there.
Speaker: Johnson Toribiong, Palau's President
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TORIBIONG: We will receive six detainees from Guantanamo, they will be arriving in Palau before the end of this year and that's the maximum number of detainees which will be resettled in Palau only temporarily until they find a third country to which they may be resettled more permanently. The number was 17 to begin with - four went to Bermuda, I think one went to some European country. We have got six and in order for them to relocate to Palau they have to consent, only six did consent to resettle in Palau.
REPORTER: Anything being done for preparations to help them in preparing them into society? They've been in prison for a long time.
TORIBIONG: Yes I am, I am preparing a place for them to stay. I am arranging to have our community college conduct educational programs for them with a crash course in the English language and our culture and our environment. We will receive them as free human beings.
