Q: It's been announced that Guantanamo detainees will be taken in by Palau. Where is Palau? Is it even a country?
A: Palau is a group of volcanic islands in the western Pacific Ocean. It is about 500 miles east of the Philippines.
Palau was part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific under US administration; it became an independent republic in free association with the United States, effective 1994.
The population of Palau is 20,800. Its capital is Koror.
Palau's president, Johnson Toribiong, said his government had “agreed to accommodate the United States of America’s request” to “temporarily resettle” the detainees, members of the Uighur ethnic group, “subject to periodic review.”
The relocation of the 17 Uighur detainees will be the largest single transfer of Guantánamo prisoners.
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Trivia:
Citizens of Palau may migrate to the United States without a visa and live and work here indefinitely. They can also serve in the U.S. military.
Culinary specialty: Fruit Bat Soup
