US detainees balk at Palau move

The US has 50 to 60 detainees whom it has been unable to repatriate

Five of 13 Guantanamo detainees from China do not want to be moved to the Pacific state of Palau, officials say.

A presidential spokesman in Palau said the five, from the Muslim Uighur ethnic group, had expressed concern that Palau could not protect them from China.

Palau has agreed to a US request to temporarily resettle the Uighurs, after the Pentagon determined last year that they were not "enemy combatants".

The tiny Pacific nation does not have diplomatic relations with China.

Instead, it has developed strong ties with Taiwan, which Beijing regards as its renegade province.

Obama's pledge

The group of Chinese Muslims were captured in Afghanistan and Pakistan in 2001.

The US has said it will not send them back to China for fear they will be tortured or executed.

Beijing demands their handover, saying the detainees are leading an Islamic separatist movement in western China.

Guantanamo Bay officials have been attempting to fulfil US President Barack Obama's order to close the controversial detention facility in Cuba by early next year.

Palau, a former US trust territory, is an archipelago of eight main islands plus more than 250 islets that is best known for diving and tourism and is located some 800 km (500 miles) east of the Philippines.

Palau has retained close ties with Washington since independence in 1994 when it signed a Compact of Free Association with the US. It relies heavily on the US for aid and defence.