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CHAGOSSIANS: IN SEARCH OF JUSTICE
The chagossians (natives of Diego Garcia), who had been evicted from their native
place to Seychelles and then Mauritius after a furtive conversion of British Indian OceanTerritories (B.I.O.T.) to American military base in 1970s, have been looking for their
justice from a long back. Thereupon, the recent judgment given by the British High Court
on May 11, 2006 and corroborated by the Court of Appeal on May 23, 2007 bestowed
some rays of hope to these chagossians. As per high court judgment, chagossians were
entitled to return the Chagos Archipelago.
Diego Garcia, a tiny island in the Southern Hemisphere of Indian Ocean has been
explored by the Portuguese in the early 16th
century, but the islands remained uninhabited
until the 18th century when the France established Copra plantation. In due course of
time, Diego Garcia became possession of U.K. (specifically after Napoleonic War) and
from 1814 to 1965, it was a dependency of Mauritius.
Image 1
In 1965, Mauritians got their independence at the cost of detachment of Diego
Garcia from Mauritius and to found it part of the British Indian Ocean territories.
Meanwhile, British and the United States governments secretly made an agreement in
the early 1960s to convert it into Military base. Just before granting Mauritius
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independence in 1968, the British government unilaterally handed over Diego Garcia to
the U.S.A.
Although, in the year 1966, the crown bought the Islands and the plantations; at
that time, it had been under private ownership and which had not been profitable with theintroduction of new oils and lubricants. In 1971, the plantations were closed because of
the agreement between the U.K. and U.S.A. to make Diego Garcia available to the U.S.A.
as a military base. No payment was made as part of this agreement, although, it has been
claimed that the U.K. received a U.S. $ 14 millions discount on the acquisition of Polaris
missiles from the U.S.A. This agreement also forbids any other economic activity on the
islands.
Moreover, this collusion between U.K. and U.S.A. forcibly depopulated the nativepopulation, known as the chagossians (or Ilois), who were the descendants of East Indian
workers and African slaves who had been brought to the island in the late 18th and 19th
centuries to work on the coconut and copra plantations.
Finally, in mid 1970s, Diego Garcia became home to a military base of U.S.A.
The base serves as a naval refueling and support station. Besides, it also has an air base
that supports the largest modern aircraft B-52s, other bombers, and aerial refueling. Apart
from this, the base is part of the US Space Surveillance Network with a three telescopes
GEODSS Station, and is a NASA Space Shuttle emergency landing site. Diego Garcia
also hosts one of three ground antennas (others two are on Kwajalein and Ascension
Island) that assist in the operation of the Global Positioning System Navigational System.
The geographical location of this island in the south Indian Ocean acts as the most
strategic point in order to reconnoiter most of the countries of Asia including Russia.
And, it is already proven through following wars i.e. during 1991 Gulf War; it was home
to the 4300 Provisional Bombing Wings. It has also been used in support of military
missions in Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom and to Iraq again during
2003 invasion.
Apart from this, a number of al Qaeda Suspects are thought to be held and
interrogated on the island (although, the U.S.A. military did not confirm this) including
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Humbali (Riduam Isamuddin), the leader of the Asian terrorist group, Jemaah Islamiyah
responsible for the 2002 terrorist bombing in Bali.
The chagossians now leaving deprived life in Mauritius urban slums and some of
them leave in Seychelles. Ever since their expulsion, they have been continuouslyasserting their right to return to Diego Garcia in the British court.
Consequently, in 2000 the British high court ruled that the order to evacuate Diego
Garcias inhabitants were invalid, hence, the native islanders granted not only right to
return to the Archipelago but also granted them U.K. citizenship. But, the court also
upheld the islands military status which permits only pe rsonal authorized by the military
to inhabit the island, and it rinsed the all hope of chagossians. Therefore, in 2002 the
islanders and their descendants now numbering 4500 again knocked the door of BritishHigh Court, claiming compensations after what they said were two years of delays by the
British Foreign Office.
Moreover, on June 10, 2004, the British Government under strong pressure from
the U.S.A., (which has cited securities reason for keeping away the islanders from
returning), prohibited islander from ever returning to Diego Garcia, reversing the 2000
court decision.
But the new verdict of British High Court (May 11, 2006) describes the
governments conduct as outrageous, unlawful and a breach of accepted moral
standards and hence pave the way for the islanders to move elsewhere in the Chagos
archipelago to the Salomon island and Peros Banhos, which are located more than 100
miles from Diego Garcia.
After this verdict, the U.S.A. however is opposed to any one other than military
personnel and their employees leaving anywhere in the Chagos archipelago asserting that
securities will be compromised. According to U.S.A. allowing civilians on the
archipelago could foment terrorist activities on the islands.
On the contrary, chagossian are making return plans and turn Diego Garcia into a
sugarcane and fishing enterprise as soon as the defence agreement expires (the agreement
between the U.K. and U.S.A. for the U.S.A. to use the island as a military base was made
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in 1966. it specify that the agreement runs until 2036, but the either government can opt
out of the agreement in 2016).
But now, we people can only wait and watch that whether the U.S.A. government
again dismantles the dream of chagossians returning to their native island by reinstating the agreement or welcomes British Courts decision and underpin them to implement,
because now it is loggerheads with the worlds two super powers.
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References:
Cherian John, Fate of Chagossians (published in Frontline June, 2007)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depopulation_of_Diego_Garcia
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/io.html
http://www.zianet.com/tedmorris/dg/realhistory.html
http://www.chagosinternational.org/files/index.php
http://chagosislands.com/
Image 1:http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jksonc/images/dgchagos2.gif
Cover Image:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Chagos_map.PNG/687px-
Chagos_map.PNG
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