Wersgall

them. (The trust fund pays approximately

$40 per month to each Bikinian, and the onetime $1.4 million payment will amount to
$1.520 per person.)
Nevertheless. the bigger questions remain
unanswered. The Bikinians. most of whom

have resided on Kili Island for over 30 years.
must be resettled. but there are no suitable
locations available outside their aroll. Land
in the Marshalls is scarce, and there is no-

where the Bikinians could resettle without

being squatters on someone else's land. Most

of the Bikinians, however, reject the possibility of moving out of the Marshall Islands

aret (say, to Hawaii), because they fear they
would lose their Marshallese identity and
cultural heritage.

One possible compromise is Wake Atoll,

annexed by the United Scates in 1899 bur

kinians propose to settle there using a sys-

tem devised by the people of Enewetak in the

mid-1970s, when they, like the Bikinians.
were living temporarily on another atoll.

When the southern islands of Enewetak
were ready for habitation, the people had to

decide who would move. Since the whole
population could not move at once. the people set up a rotation system by which a certain percentage of the population moved to

Enewetak for six months. After six months
these people left and were replaced by an-

other group. This rotation program is work-

ing successfully today. The Bikinians have

proposed to apply it to Eneu Island.

If the system is implemented. only part

of the Bikinian population could be accom-

modated on Eneu at any given time: the remainder would stay where they are living

Islands. Located some 425 miles north of
Bikini. Wake has no indigenous population.
It has verylittle rainfall and virtually none

now. Most of the Bikinians——550, or about
60 per cent—are living on Kili, and the rest
live on other atolls in the Marshalls. Some
Bikinians may wish to live permanently on
Kili or elsewhere without going back to Eneu.

found throughour the rest of the Marshall
Islands, but it does have one very attractive

Snags and Squabbles

considered by some to be part of the Marshall

of the life-sustaining vegetation commonly
feature for the Bikintans—che American
military.
The Bikinians’ desire to be looked after by
the Unired States may seem ironic, bur it is

It has always been assumed that the Biki-

nians would live temporarily on Kili until

understandable. The U.S. military removed

they could return to Bikini. If DOE projections are correct, a return to Bikini Island is
at least several generations away. so the

Jook anxiously to the Unired Srates ro con-

vide continued support for people on Kili.
The Bikinian community on Kili will require

them from Bikini in 1946. The Bikinians
have not yet been given a home. so they
tinuc to care rorthem. They view Wake asa

pocket of continuing U.S. presence in the

region. and in 1979 they asked that it be considered as a possible resettlement site. The
Pentagon. however. has flatly refused to permit them to settle there.

Bikini resettlement program should pro-

permanent housing: a short airstrip; and improved ocean access—either a dock. a deeper
channel, or a ferry stationed at the nearest
atoll, 40 miles away.

Resettlement on Eneu, which the Bikini-

ans have proposed to Congress and the ad-

Even more attractive to the Bikinians than
Wake is Eneu, an island five miles south of
Bikini in Bikini Atoll. Eneu is three times
the size of Kili, it provides a calm lagoon for
fishing, and it is equipped with an airstrip
built for the weapons testing program.
Since it is uncertain whether Eneu can
handle a large number of people, the Bi-

sure that the people do not go five miles north
to eat the food on Bikini Island? Whowill
take charge of the program. and who will
insure that ships arrive with imported food at
Eneu on a regular basis?

92.

93.

ministration, is not withour pitfalls. Is the
island safe for habitation? If it is, how will a
rotation program be enforced? Who will in-

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