The UK will return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, but the base on Diego Garcia Island will remain under Anglo-American control. Chagossians, displaced decades ago, feel left out of the agreement.
When he heard the news United Kingdom agreed on They give back their last colonies in Africa, Little is said about those he exiled. Chagos Islands throughout the centuries of its rule. In a joint statement with MauricioLast Thursday, the British Government announced that they had carried out this operation. talks “for solve all unresolved problems Between the United Kingdom and Mauritius Chagos Archipelagoincluding those relating to former residents”.
However, this return is not the direct step towards self-government that many former colonial territories have experienced. The islands have a long and complex history. On the one hand, both the United Kingdom and Mauritius have claimed the islands. old residents They look like they’re stuck outside of negotiations for decades.
Also new agreement It will allow a large military base on Diego García Island, Where the majority of Chagos people come from, Remained under joint control of the UK and US It’s leased for 99 years, which would put it out of bounds again. decision happened condemned by many members Chagossian communityResiding mostly in Mauritius, Seychelles and the United Kingdom, since its inception Forced deportations from the islands between 1965 and 1973.
And despite some positive changes, Diego García’s request for another century loan “incredible” with Human Rights Watch. “This means: open continuation of crimes Mausi Segun, executive director of Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division, told Euronews: “This is the only place where the majority of Chagos people still alive today grew up, where their ancestors, their dead parents, their relatives were buried.” added Segun.
Why were the Chagossians expelled from their island?
Loess first inhabitants of the Chagos Islands enslaved Africansand the population changed arrival of indentured Indians At the end of the 19th century. Brought to the islands by the French, they continued production after liberation coconut in export-oriented fields. Inside 1814Britain gained formal ownership of the Chagos Islands and nearby Mauritius. During this period the islanders lived a relatively peaceful and self-sufficient life.
Frankie Bontemps, a second-generation Chagossian now living in the UK, remembers how his mother lived on the islands: “They were a simple lifebut they were happy. They were happy and didn’t have a lot of material things, but they were happy with what they had,” Bontemps explains to Euronews.
But while Mauricio was getting ready be independent from Great Britain in 1968Alternative plans were already being made Separate the Chagos Archipelago from neighboring regions. As the Cold War with the Soviet Union intensified, the so-called British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) has become an important negotiating tool in the US-UK alliance.
The independence of Mauritius now depended on the depopulation of the Chagos Islands and the surrender of these islands to the British. argument that the government The Chagossians were simple workers, so there was no need to consult them. One collusion It will allow the United States to build a strategic military base Population of the entire archipelago, the largest of the islands being the key to Diego García He was forcibly deported between 1965 and 1973.
Requesting the rental of an “unpopulated” military fortress during the threat of nuclear war, They offered in return to the British discount $14 million (12.8 million euros) In Polaris missile systems.
at a time world independence movements, Chagos Islanders were forced to rebuild their lives in Mauritius and the nearby Seychelles. “In Mauritius they always treated us like this second class citizensThey also had a derogatory term for us called ‘Ilois’ in French, which meant anyone born on the island,” Bontemps said.
“Why do you think we all came to england? For a better future, better positions for our children, because we knew we didn’t have a future there because of the way they treated us. I am not anti-Mauritian, but I am anti-‘establishment’. “It’s how they treat people,” he explained.
Despite endless calls to return and several visits in recent years, No Chagossians can live on the islands from anywhere in the archipelago. Now Bontemps is angry because, like many of his generation, he never realized his dream of returning to his mother, Diego Garcíaplace of birth. He feels silent and angry that this decision was made without consulting the community.
They lived in heaven
in the 1980s attempt small individual repairs By the British Government established under the Mauritius charter. However sums were conditionalAn agreement to never return to the Chagos Islands.
British novelist Peter Benson inspired to write about the plight of the Chagossians in the late 1980s after coming across a pamphlet by an independent journalist called John Madeley entitled ‘Diego García: A Contrast with the Falklands’. Benson remembers his anger He faced the opposing foreign policy of the British Government and later, at the age of twenty, traveled to Mauritius in the hope of speaking to displaced Chagossians.
Since he wrote his article fiction novel ‘Less Dependency’ (the name based on a phrase often used to describe regions) is the question of Diego Garcia in Benson’s eyes did not penetrate popular consciousness. “They were living in a paradise. It was incredible. It was beautiful and it had been taken from them and they’ll never get it back“They just want to go back and pay their respects to their ancestors, they can find their graves but it would break their hearts to go back and see what it has become,” he told Euronews.
ADVERTWhat will the agreement mean?
In 2016, the British Government announced that a package worth 40 million pounds (47.8 million euros) would be paid. compensate It was even more so for the Chagossians living in the UK, but there was no mention of returning home. Three years later International Court of Justice declared illegal British occupation of the islands and ordered him to return to Mauritius. A short time later, a vote was taken at the General Assembly. HE He overwhelmingly supported condemning the British occupation of the archipelago.
Last Thursday the British Government eventually agreed to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritiusin a historical event. The United Kingdom and Mauritius welcomed the announcement as “a seminal moment in our relations and a demonstration of our enduring commitment to peaceful dispute resolution and the rule of law”.
The decision is also Welcomed by the African Union (AU) as a historic political agreement. African Union President Moussa Faki Mahamat said:great victory for the cause of decolonizationinternational law and Mauritius’ right to self-determination”.
