The long and unhappy odyssey of the Guantanamo Uighurs, from China's Xinjiang province to Cuba via Afghanistan, is apparently about to end in a remote archipelago some call a Pacific island paradise.
The government of Palau, a nation of 20,000 people about two and a half times the size of the US capital, Washington DC, has announced it will accept up to 17 ethnic Uighur detainees following a request from the US.
Palau is better known for its coral reefs and lakes full of gently pulsating jellyfish than as a power player in international politics.
But Johnson Toribiong, the country's president, said he was "honoured and proud" to help the US out, and hoped the Uighurs will be able to restart their lives there.
In Washington, a Uighur community leader reacted happily."As long as the Uighurs don't get sent back to China I am delighted," said Rabiya Kadeer.
The Uighurs are members of a mostly Turkic-speaking and Muslim ethnic minority from China's far western region, and many say they have long been repressed by the Chinese government.
China says Uighur nationalists are leading a separatist movement and are responsible for a series of "terrorist" attacks.
Source: Al Jazeera
The government of Palau, a nation of 20,000 people about two and a half times the size of the US capital, Washington DC, has announced it will accept up to 17 ethnic Uighur detainees following a request from the US.
Palau is better known for its coral reefs and lakes full of gently pulsating jellyfish than as a power player in international politics.
But Johnson Toribiong, the country's president, said he was "honoured and proud" to help the US out, and hoped the Uighurs will be able to restart their lives there.
In Washington, a Uighur community leader reacted happily."As long as the Uighurs don't get sent back to China I am delighted," said Rabiya Kadeer.
The Uighurs are members of a mostly Turkic-speaking and Muslim ethnic minority from China's far western region, and many say they have long been repressed by the Chinese government.
China says Uighur nationalists are leading a separatist movement and are responsible for a series of "terrorist" attacks.
Source: Al Jazeera
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