The Uighurs who arrived in Bermuda yesterday were greeted by glorious sunshine and a tall ships regatta in one of the world’s wealthiest nations.
The former Guant?namo Bay inmates will now become neighbours on the 21-square-mile millionaires’ playground to such homeowners as Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York.
The mid-Atlantic archipelago of about 138 small islands is Britain’s oldest colony, having been in British possession since 1612. Blessed by a balmy year-round climate, Bermuda is known for yachting, golf and talcum-powder sand beaches.
But the picturesque capital of Hamilton also boasts dozens of headquarters of hedge funds and reinsurance companies that make it a financial powerhouse. It is still common to see businessmen wearing traditional knee-length Bermuda shorts. Residents professed themselves baffled yesterday by the resettlement plan. “People are shaking their heads. They cannot understand the reason for it. We are a very wealthy small island,” said Kyle Hunter, the sports editor at the local Mid-Ocean News newspaper. “I can’t see them buying a house here because the average price is $900,000 [£550,000] for a small two-bedroom,” he added.
The Uighurs will stick out on the island, which is about 60 per cent black and the rest overwhelmingly white. Even the local Chopsticks Chinese restaurant lost its only true Chinese waitress last month. The other staff are all Thais or Filipinos.
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The Uighurs are expected to be put up in government accommodation in one of the less salubrious neighbourhoods outside Hamilton, but they did not seem to mind. “Growing up under communism we always dreamed of living in peace and working in free society like this one,” said Abdul Nasser, one of the four.
Families living on the island are restricted to owning one car each because of the lack of space. But if the Uighurs earn citizenship, they will gain the cherished right to own property on the island.