oJ
COVINGTON
&
BURLING
Theodore R. Mitchell, Esquire
January 27, 1979
Page Two
Congressional side, the people of Bikini have numerous
friends in Congress who have proved helpful in the past
and who, I expect, will continue to view sympathetically
their needs and requests
in the
future.
As
for
the ne-
gotiating group, Ambassador Rosenblatt has offered to
provide for the future needs of the Bikinians in the
draft Compact of Free Association.
My own reading of the current situation leads
me to conclude that the interests of the people of Bikini
can best be
served by pursuing the above goals
through
Congressional legislation, and I made these views known
to the Office of Micronesian Status Negotiations before
the recent Saipan round of negotiations.
If your thinking differs from mine on this matter, I would like to
know as soon as possible, because I do feel that a unified approach would make some sense, although the people
of the four different atolls do have clearly different
interests and needs.
Similarly, if you feel that Congressional legislation is the best route to follow, I
agree that we should meet to determine whether it will
be possible to coordinate our efforts.
I have no current
plans to be in the Trust Territory in the next few months,
but your December 21 letter indicates that you expect to
be in Washington in late February.
Assuming that you
are still planning to be here at that time, I would hope
that we could meet to discuss these matters.
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
Sincerely,
ncbhlating
(
20094899
/Jonathan M.
Weisgall