Thread: Did the U.S. Pay Palau $200 M to Take Uighurs from Gitmo?

Did the U.S. Pay Palau $200 Million to Take Detainees?
Thursday, June 11, 2009 9:03 AM
By: Voice of America

The Pacific island state of Palau said Wednesday it has agreed to resettle 17 Chinese Uighur detainees from the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which is to close by year's-end. The Obama administration welcomed the statement, though saying details of the transfer are still being worked out.

The announcement by authorities in Palau, a Pacific island state east of the Philippines, would appear to resolve one of the thorniest resettlement issues stemming from the Obama administration's plan to close the controversial Guantanamo Bay facility by the end of the year.

Palau officials say the decision to temporarily resettle the men is based on human rights concerns. It comes at the same time as Palau and the United States are discussing the possibility of a $200-million aid package for the remote archipelago.

The Uighur detainees were part of a group of 22 members of the Chinese Muslim ethnic group taken into custody by American forces in Afghanistan after the U.S.-led invasion of the country following the 9/11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

The Uighurs were cleared of wrongdoing four years ago, but they remained at the camp at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba out of concern they would face mistreatment if returned to China. Five of the Uighurs were accepted by Albania three years ago but efforts to resettle the others had been unsuccessful until this week.

Officials in Palau, a U.S.-administered territory until 1994, said they agreed to temporarily take in the 17 Uighurs for humanitarian reasons and because of the special relationship between the United States and the island nation of 20,000, which is heavily dependent on U.S. aid. Palau maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan, not China.

At a news briefing here, State Department Spokesman Ian Kelly said the United States is grateful to Palau for the gesture, though he said details of the transfer are still being worked out.

"We have been in discussions with Palau. We're very grateful to governments who have expressed an interest in being helpful, and we express our gratitude to the government of Palau as well. I think you've all seen the statement that came out of the government of Palau. But we're still involved in ongoing discussions, so it's premature for us to go into the details," he said.

Spokesman Kelly said former Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried, named by the Obama administration as a special envoy for resettling Guantanamo detainees, held talks in Palau on the Uighurs' status in recent days.

He flatly rejected published reports linking Palau's acceptance of the Uighurs to a pending $200 million U.S. aid package to the island group. U.S. officials say the multi-year aid plan has been under negotiation for several years, long before any discussions on the detainees.

China has pressed for the return of the Uighurs, while denying they would face mistreatment if handed over. Advocates for the Uighurs, who mainly reside in the western Chinese region of Xinjiang, say they have long suffered political and religious persecution there.

More than 30 other Guantanamo detainees no longer viewed by U.S. officials as enemy combatants must also be resettled in advance of the closure of the detention facility and special envoy Fried and other U.S. officials are engaged in wide-ranging diplomatic contacts on the issue.

http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/palau_ ... 23992.html

If this is correct, that is almost 12 million dollars per Uighur!

China Objects to Palau Resettling Guantanamo Uighurs

Thursday, June 11, 2009 8:40 AM

BEIJING -- Palau's president said Thursday that his tiny Pacific nation's tradition of hospitality prompted the decision to take in 17 Chinese Muslims in limbo at Guantanamo Bay, but China called them "terrorist suspects" and demanded they be sent home.

Four of the Uighur detainees had already left the U.S.-run prison, which President Barack Obama has pledged to close, American officials said Tuesday. The four were sent to the North Atlantic island of Bermuda.

Palau President Johnson Toribiong denied his government's move was influenced by any massive aid package from Washington, saying that the Uighurs have become "international vagabonds" who deserve a fresh start. China said it opposes any country taking them.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference the United States should "stop handing over terrorist suspects to any third country, so as to expatriate them to China at an early date." He did not say if China would take any action in response.

Palau, a former U.S. trust territory in the Pacific, is one of a handful of countries that does not recognize China, instead recognizing Taiwan.

Toribiong said Palau did not consider China's reaction when it accepted the U.S. request to temporarily resettle the detainees, who were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001.

The Pentagon later decided they were not enemy combatants. Even so, the Obama administration faced fierce congressional opposition to allowing the Uighurs on U.S. soil as free men and so it sought alternatives abroad.

The U.S. has said it feared the men would be executed if they were returned to China.

Toribiong said the Uighur detainees from China's arid west would start their new lives in a halfway house to see how they acclimatize to his tropical archipelago west of the Philippines. He called Palau a "Christian nation" but with a 450-member Muslim community.

"It's an old-age tradition of Palauans to accommodate the homeless who find their way to the shores of Palau," Toribiong told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. "We did agree to accept them due to the fact that they have become basically homeless and need to find a place of refuge and freedom."

U.S. government officials said Thursday that four of the Uighur men have already been released from Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and have landed on the North Atlantic island of Bermuda.

Beijing says the men are members of extremist groups working to separate the far western region of Xinjiang from China.

"We understand these 17 people are not terrorists but separatists from their national government in China," Toribiong said. "If China objects to their being in Palau, I would think their objection was also directed at their detention in Guantanamo Bay."

Toribiong said Palau would send a delegation to Guantanamo to assess the Uighur detainees.

With eight main islands and more than 250 islets, Palau is best known for diving and tourism and is located some 500 miles (800 kilometers) east of the Philippines.

Palau has retained close ties with the United States since independence in 1994 and is entitled to U.S. protection under an accord.

Two U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said earlier this week that the U.S. was prepared to give Palau up to $200 million in development, budget support and other assistance in return for accepting the Uighurs and as part of a mutual defense and cooperation treaty that is due to be renegotiated this year.

Toribiong denied the report.

"We are not linking this act to the financial assistance from the United States," Toribiong said.

How long the men stay depends on whether they can find a better place to go, Toribiong said.

"So we'll accept them and the details of the arrangements will be worked out, and they will be here until we can find out where they should be permanently located," he said.

Asked if there had been any public reaction in Palau to the decision, Toribiong said, "Palau's people are always on the side of the U.S. government."

http://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/china_ ... 23919.html

Did the U.S. Pay Palau $200 Million to Take Detainees?

Nah not a chance!

It was just recently that the Palauans were trying to find work in Postville Iowa at the former Rubashkin plant.

Public Backlash in Palau Over Decision to Accept Gitmo Detainees

Friday, June 12, 2009
By Ray Lilley, Associated Press

Wellington, New Zealand (AP) - The tiny Pacific nation of Palau's decision to allow 13 Chinese Muslims from the Guantanamo Bay prison camp to resettle there has sparked anger among islanders who fear for the safety of the tranquil tourist haven.

The U.S. government determined last year that the Chinese Muslims, or Uighurs, were not enemy combatants and should be released from the U.S. military prison in Cuba. China has objected to their resettlement, calling the men "terrorist suspects" and demanding they be sent home.

The U.S. has said it fears the men would be executed if they were returned to China.

Palau President Johnson Toribiong explained his decision to grant the Uighurs entry as traditional hospitality, but public opinion has appeared overwhelmingly negative. Some complained Friday that the government failed to consult the people.

"I totally disagree" with allowing the Uighurs onto Palau, Natalia Baulis, a 30-year-old mother of two, told The Associated Press by telephone.

"It's good to be humanitarian and all, but still these people ... to me are scary," she said.

The Uighurs have been in custody since they were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001.

Fermin Nariang, editor of the Palau newspaper Island Times, said he had been stopped in the streets of the capital, Koror, by residents venting their anger.

"This is a very small country ... and some are saying if the whole world doesn't want these folks, why are we taking them?" Nariang said.

The newspaper quoted islander Debedebk Mongami as saying, "I'm also afraid this news is going to scare the tourists who plan to come to Palau."

The Palau Chamber of Commerce, which represents the country's multimillion dollar hotel industry, did not return calls seeking comment Friday.

Toribiong has denied the move was influenced by any massive aid package from Washington, saying instead that the Uighurs had become "international vagabonds" who deserved a fresh start.

"Palau's people are always on the side of the U.S. government," Toribiong said.

He said Palau would send a delegation to Guantanamo to assess the Uighur detainees. It was unclear when this would happen or when the Uighurs would arrive in the island nation.

Four other Uighurs left Guantanamo Bay for a new home in Bermuda on Thursday. Some residents of the North Atlantic island were also unhappy, with dozens unleashing their anger on the Facebook page of a local newspaper, The Royal Gazette.

Even Britain, which handles Bermuda's defense, security and foreign affairs, expressed displeasure at the deal.

The British Foreign Office complained that Bermuda's leaders failed to consult "whether this falls within their competence or is a security issue for which the Bermuda government do not have delegated responsibility."

Although the Pentagon said the 17 Uighurs were not enemy combatants, the Obama administration has faced fierce congressional opposition to allowing them into the U.S. as free men. China says no other country should take them.

On Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang told a news conference that the U.S. should "stop handing over terrorist suspects to any third country, so as to expatriate them to China at an early date." He did not say if China would take any action in response.

Toribiong said Palau did not consider China's reaction when it accepted the U.S. request to temporarily resettle the detainees.

Palau has eight main islands and more than 250 islets, and is a former U.S. trust territory that has retained close ties with the United States since independence in 1994.

Some 20,000 people live in Palau, a predominantly Christian nation.

http://www.cnsnews.com/public/content/a ... rcID=49518

Jun 19, 9:41 AM EDT

Palau's Muslims anxiously await Gitmo detainees

By TOMOKO A. HOSAKA
Associated Press Writer

KOROR, Palau (AP) -- At the call to prayer, the men turn one-by-one down a narrow path through the jungle, marked only by a towering coconut tree.

Hidden at the end of the dirt track stands the sole mosque in Koror, home to more than two-thirds of people in Palau, the tiny Pacific nation that has agreed to take in a group of Chinese Muslim detainees from Guantanamo Bay.

The mosque is perched on bamboo stilts and held together by a patchwork of corrugated metal. For the small group of about 500 Muslims in this predominantly Christian nation, this is a spiritual sanctuary.

Most are workers from Bangladesh, who began landing on this remote archipelago over a dozen years ago, seeking better jobs and peace.

Reflecting local sentiment, they expressed mixed feelings Friday about the expected arrival of 13 Guantanamo detainees. They are protective of their adopted society and the lives they have built.

Haranou Rashid, a Bangladeshi chicken farmer who has lived in Palau for 13 years, said the news makes him nervous.

"Palauans like us," the 40-year-old said. "We do not make any trouble here. But when newcomers arrive, maybe they are not good."

If one Muslim causes problems, Rashid said, it would hurt all Muslims in Palau.

Palau made global headlines last week when it agreed to President Barack Obama's request to take a group of Uighurs - Turkic Muslims from China's far western Xinjiang region.

The Uighurs (pronounced WEE'-gurs) were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001 and then held at the U.S. prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, which Obama has vowed to close. The Pentagon determined last year that the Uighurs were not "enemy combatants," but the men have been stuck in legal limbo since then.

The United States asked Palau for help after other countries turned it down. Four other Uighurs left Guantanamo last week for a new home in Bermuda.

George Clarke, a Washington-based attorney representing two of the Uighurs, said his clients have asked about the religious facilities in Palau.

Any Muslim - regardless of their past - is welcome to pray at the mosque in Koror, said Mohi Uddi, 32, president of the Bangladesh Association.

Uddi, a maintenance worker, has lived in Palau for more than a decade. He says he is not worried about the Uighurs because if they come, it is Allah's will.

"If they are real Muslims, they have to follow what our Quran says," said Uddi, adding that he does not tolerate the violence embraced by extremists.

Palau is among the smallest countries in the world, with some 20,000 people scattered over 190 square miles (490 square kilometers) of tropical islands. A third of the population is foreign, mainly Filipinos. About 450 Bangladeshis live in Palau, and the vast majority of them are Muslim.

There are only two mosques in the whole country.

While Bangladeshi workers are quick to praise Palau's beauty, life is hardly idyllic for them and other low-skilled laborers.

The minimum wage for Palauans is $2.50 an hour. For foreign workers, it's $1.50. The Division of Labor says it sees a regular stream of foreign workers complaining about low salaries and mistreatment by their Palauan employers.

In December 2005, the government issued a moratorium on new workers from Bangladesh. The number of Bangladeshi workers jumped from 163 in 2004 to 425 in 2005, according to a U.N. refugee agency report in 2007.

"Language barriers and fraud among recruiters have resulted in social tensions and problems for the Palauan government, which does not have formal diplomatic ties with Bangladesh," the report said.

Anowar Hossain, a Bangladeshi construction worker, says Muslims tend to stick to themselves. Few locals, for example, know where to find the mosque.

Still, he describes Palau as a "nice country" with gorgeous waters and mountains. And for now, it is home.

"I try not to worry about (the Uighurs)," said Hossain, 34. "If they come, they are welcome here."

Mujahid Hussein, Palau's only Pakistani, said he does not know enough about the Uighurs to determine whether they embrace Islam's core tenet of peace. He has never had any problems as a Muslim in Palau and describes his 10 years here as "good and simple."

"We Muslims hate terrorism," said Hussein, 36. "We do not consider terrorists Muslims. If (the Uighurs) are clear of terrorism, then we have no problem."

(This version CORRECTS Corrects that Palau has two mosques instead of one; ADDS photos.)

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/ ... TE=DEFAULT