Trusteeship Council mission to observe eighth plebiscite in Palau.

• Position: Future of country's political status

Another visiting mission to Palau is to report on the forthcoming plebiscite on the Compact of Free Association with the United States, the Trusteeship Council declared at its sixtieth session (12-17 May, New York). The plebiscite is scheduled for 9 November.

According to a 17 May consensus resolution (T/RES/ 2196(LX)), representatives from China, France, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and two from countries in the region will participate in the Mission, on the understanding that pending legal challenges relating to the plebiscite will have been "adjudicated definitively beforehand".

Palau is the only remaining of four entities of the original Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands, whose final political status is yet to be determined.

By resolution 683 (1990), the Security Council terminated the Trusteeship Agreements for the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, which had both approved Compacts of Free Association with the United States, and for the Northern Mariana islands, which had opted for Commonwealth status.

Seven plebiscites have been held in Palau, all of which failed to achieve the constitutionally mandated 75 per cent vote needed to approve the proposed Compact. In November 1992, Palauans voted to amend their Constitution to allow for approval of the Compact by a simple majority vote.

"The time has come for Palau to take its place in the international community", Joseph Manso of the United States told the Trusteeship Council on 17 May. His country welcomed the proposed visiting mission and agreed that no action would be taken on the Compact until all legal questions were resolved.

He added that the...