Since I brought this situation up in a discussion about Guam, I thought maybe it deserved its own thread, simply because many people are not aware of the plight of the people who inhabit the Marshall Islands.
Even though the Marshall Islands are an independent entity now, they are almost entirely dependent on handouts from the US government. Of all the Marshallese populations, the people of Bikini Atoll have by far the most tragic tale: one in which they were given false promises by the US government of being able to return home after the nuclear tests conducted on their island, where millions of dollars worth of reparations for their displacement and for restoring Bikini Atoll to a habitable state have been stalled. The most tragic part of it is even though many of the Bikinians have moved to other parts of the Marshall Islands, due to the lack of economic opportunities, a colony of Bikinians are now living in Arkansas, the largest group living outside the Marshall Islands. For them, the cultural shock must be horrendous...their hearts torn from their homelands.
Miulang
In 1979 the Government of the Marshall Islands was officially established and the country became self-governing. In 1986 the Compact of Free Association with the United States entered into force, granting the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) its sovereignty. The Compact provided for aid and U.S. defense of the islands in exchange for continued U.S. military use of the missile testing range at Kwajalein Atoll. The independence was formally completed under international law in 1990, when the UN officially ended the Trusteeship status.
Miulang
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