USTT status

talks falter over land

From a Saipan correspondent

Land remains as one of the hardest nuts to crack in the negotiations between the Micronesians and the United States over the future political status of the United States Trust Ter ritory.

What has been described as the final round of the separate talks between the United States and the Marianas Political Status Commission opened on Saipan on December 5 in an atmosphere of optimism tinged with anxiety over the highly contro versial subject of the return to the people of the public lands, much of which is held or coveted by the United States armed forces.

Only days before the talks opened, members of the Marianas Territorial Partv produced a petition asking that the Political Status Commission con sult with the Marianas people before reaching an agreement with the United States.

The party made three demands— that people who had asked for home stead land be granted entry to the land and given title; that all public lands should be returned to the people’s control and that claims for compensation for damage suffered in the Pacific War should be completed.

When the talks opened on Decem ber 5, Edward Pangelinan, chairman of the Status Commission, emphasised the importance of the demands made in the petition. One key issue remain ing to be settled before agreement was reached on future political status was how the United States would acquire the land it needed.

The talks are expected to last about two weeks. The US President’s Per sonal Ambassador Franklin Haydn Williams is heading the US team.

Also in December were talks in Honolulu between the United States Department of the Interior and the Trust Territory Government on the transfer of public lands. The United Stages has proposed that the land be returned by an executive order rather than bv a decision of the US Con gress. With the exception of Palau, all the Districts of Micronesia are opposed to return by executive order, preferring an act of congress which, they believe, would contain more safeguards for the Micronesians and better regulation of the United States moves to acquire some of the land, notably that on Tinian.