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U.S. trying to resettle
Gitmo Uighurs
United Press International
Washington, DC, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- The U.S. State
Department will not return Uighur detainees at
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to China even though some
European nation have rejected them.
The Financial Times reported Thursday the United
States failed to persuade Germany, Switzerland,
Finland and Norway to accept the two dozen detainees
who, according to the Defense Department, do not pose
a threat to U.S. or allied interests. State Department
spokesman Richard Boucher said Washington was still
talking to countries about their resettlement, but
refused to say which ones.
The Uighurs, Muslims from China's Xinjiang province
who have been held at the U.S. naval base in
Guantanamo Bay, were captured as part of the U.S.-led
war on terrorism. China regards them as terrorists,
but Washington has refused to send them home because
of human rights concerns.
Boucher said the detainees don't want to return to
China, adding, "We're certainly not in a position to
say that they wouldn't be tortured or hurt."
The issue came up in talks Thursday between U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell and Gen. Liang
Guanglie, chief of the General Staff, of China's
People's Liberation Army, he said.
Copyright 2004 United Press International
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