(392.3824) WISE-Amsterdam - His hope is that the OEK, Belau's Congress, will pass legislation allowing another referendum to be held and that the Compact will then be implemented beginning 1 October.
What will make this referendum different from all those forced on Belau by the US in the past is the fact that voters in a referendum held last year during Belau's presidential elections voted in favor of allowing the Compact to be approved with a simple majority instead of the 75% required under the anti-nuclear provisions of Belau's constitution. If the OEK allows this new referendum, it is likely that the compact will be approved. Opposition has been worn down over the last several years due to the sustained pressure placed on Belau by its Administering Power -- the US Department of the Interior (DOI) -- and the campaign of intimidation and violence against the compact's opponents that has accompanied attempts by the US to have it ratified. This campaign peaked in 1987 with bands of thugs roaming Belau and terrorizing the anti-nuclear pro-constitutional faction. The biggest setback to the struggle to retain Belau's nuclear-free constitution also took place during that period when Rubak Bedor, a Belauan elder and father to two prominent compact opponents, was murdered. (See WISE News Communique's 339.3392, 323/4.3246, 297.3042 and 281.2831.) The US DOI is responsible for Belau under the United Nations Trusteeship agreement. As administrator of the UN Trusteeship, the US could theoretically be called into question for its failure to enable economic development that would allow Belauans to be self-reliant -- which is part of the Trusteeship agreement.
Nakamura has already held several rounds of talks with officials from the US State Department on modifications to the proposed compact. The fact that the US has previously rejected Belau's requests for modifications has so far not deterred him. When asked about past US rejections Nakamura replied, "That is the past administration of the US. The US has a new administration and Palau has a new administration." [Palau is the name by which the US refers to Belau.] Nakamura has assured US officials that the republic is committed to solving the issues surrounding the compact. A few days after his swearing-in ceremony at the end of January he stated, "The exercises we have gone through are serious and have always been serious. We have lost lives and property trying to have this issue resolved. It's a very, very important issue and we are taking it very, very seriously."
To that end, the legislative and executive branches appointed a committee to review the compact, which in effect is an economic and defense treaty between the tiny Micronesian republic and the United States. The job for the task force, which reported directly to the President at the end of March, was to examine all aspects of the Compact with a view to determining possible areas of conflict between the Compact and the laws/constitution of Belau. To date, most attention has focussed on the nuclear-related matters in the Compact as they conflict with Belau's constitution.
Nakamura's discussions with the US State Department have reflected this, centering on Belau's request for the US to remove the provisions relating to the transit and storage of nuclear materials, on the reduction of the US military land requirements, to have the Compact reduced from 50 years to 15 years, and to confirm Belau's eligibility for US federal programs.
Last August the OEK passed legislation calling for the above modifications, but which also said the compact would not be up for another vote until the US agreed to modifications. The previous US administration argued that the compact could only be modified after the Belauans had approved it.
The concrete issues at stake are documented in an interview with Cita Morei in the March issue of Ollemelel A Belau. In it she says, "The compact states the land the US would take in Palau: an airfield in Anguar, an airfield in Airai for joint use, a 9,600 foot extension to the Airai airport runway, and 65 acres alongside the airport for exclusive military use. In the 1983 version of the compact, the US earmarked places in Babeldoab they would use for nuclear and ammunition storage. The US would take 40 acres by Ngeremlengui and 30 acres by Ngetbang, close to the IPSECO power plant. And they want a beach for amphibious training. It's all mapped out in the compact. In the 1986 version of the compact, the US wants the whole of Palau for military use.
"Section 324 of the compact states that the US can bring in nuclear-propelled and nuclear-capable ships. Our port would be for joint use of commercial and military ships. Areas adjacent to the port would be for military use. And then the US wants 40 acres of submerged land in Malakal exclusively for military use...."
In a letter to Nakamura in early May, the Clinton administration, through the US Secretary of State Warren Christopher, gave the assurance that the US will limit its military use; Belauan territory would only be used for military purposes during periods of crisis or hostilities. In addition, the US would take responsibility for any nuclear accidents it might cause.
The letter is being seen as a bid to soften opposition to the compact. But the legal status of the letter's promises is unclear in relation to the legal status of the compact/treaty. Also, what constitutes a "crisis" in the US definition of "taking responsibility for nuclear accidents" means is not clear. And whether such assurances will be enough to convince the OEK to go ahead and pass the enabling legislation for another referendum remains to be seen.
Sources:
- Pacific News Bulletin (Australia), Apr. 1993 and May 1993
- WISE News Communique's 2 Sept. 1988 and 16 Oct. 1987
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