At first sight, Diego Garcia, the principal island of the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean, appears to be paradise, but appearances may be deceiving. The archipelago was spared decolonization and remained under British rule until it was leased to the United States government. From 1968 and 1973, all inhabitants were forced to relocate in order to make way for a military facility. After being ignored for decades, there has finally been action on the issue of reparations and the archipelago's future.
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| Diego Garcia Island |
In the mid-1960s, Britain granted independence to its remaining colonies in turn, in order to create a new one at the same time. The colonial rulers separated the 58 remote Chagos islands from Mauritius government in 1965 so that they could remain with Britain when the nation gained independence in 1968. Since then, it has served as the final British colony in Africa, known as the "British Indian Ocean Territory."
The estimate was motivated by the Cold War: Washington was seeking for a suitable location in the Indian Ocean. The secluded atoll of Diego Garcia came in useful, a settlement for usage rights with the British was made, and ultimately a strategically vital military facility was erected. It remained its significance even after the Cold War ended: planes that bombarded Afghanistan following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and were subsequently employed in the Gulf War took off from here. The United States revealed in 2008 that the CIA had interviewed Diego Garcia. The atoll also serves as a vital supply base for the American submarine fleet.
Thousands of people were deported
Residents of Diego Garcia were merely categorized as "contract employees" with no formal right to stay on the island because of their ancestry from plantation workers, writes American author Daniel Smith in his book "The 100 Most Hidden Places in the World." World”: "They learnt from the British that if they could not present papers establishing their hereditary right of residency, their stay on the island would be unlawful." Of obviously, such papers did not exist. The Brits subsequently began forcing the islanders to relocate."
According to the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" ("SZ"), the approximately 2,000 inhabitants on the islands were "shipped in the belly of decrepit barges that otherwise delivered bird droppings as fertilizer." They were transported to the Seychelles and Mauritius and abandoned in poverty. The displaced lacked both formal education and financial resources.
Long Struggle for compensation
The Chagossians quickly began to oppose the policies that had deprived them of their lands, and some of them now living in Mauritius were given little compensation years later. According to the various British governments, it was an issue of "appropriate recompense," but not according to the Chagos Refugee Group established in Port Louis, Mauritius' capital.
Court judgements in Britain in favor of the evictees were overturned in a seldom used proclamation issued on behalf of the Queen, according to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung ("FAZ"). As a result, the British administration maintained that a return would be incompatible with the territory's "peace, order, and good governance." According to research, resettlement would be costly and dangerous for inhabitants, especially given climate change and increasing sea levels.
Not only do military personnel dwell in Diego Garcia, but so do civilians from Mauritius, the Maldives, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka who work as chefs and cleaners. Chagossians, on the other hand, are still barred from residing on the islands. This year, the authorities in Port Louis arranged multiple journeys by former inhabitants of Diego Garcia to their old home as a gesture of protest, although they were short-lived.
UN objects to “colonial administration”
But, Britain's claim to the islands is becoming more difficult to defend. In 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) declared that Britain's claim to the archipelago was unconstitutional, and that the continuous use of the archipelago by the British and American militaries was a vestige of colonialism. After that, a huge majority of the UN General Assembly called for Britain to relinquish its "colonial administration" from the islands by the end of 2019.
The International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ISGH) confirmed Mauritius' sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago in 2021, condemning the United Kingdom and the United States for failing to comply with the 2019 UN resolution. From 2020, the archipelago has been recognized as an uncontested part of Mauritius on the UN's official world map. In a symbolic act, the UN Postal Agency prohibited letters from the islands from being franked with British postage.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a study in February charging the United Kingdom and the United States of crimes against humanity against the Chagossians. "Continual colonial crime" is the "racist persecution and persistent blockage of their return home." Both nations should compensate former archipelago residents and allow them to return to their homes.
Geopolitical Importance of Diego Garcia
Even before that, there was movement in the debate: the government in London declared its willingness to discuss about the sovereignty of the islands for the first time in November of the previous year, and talks between London and Mauritius began in January. The discussions are private, according to the Economist, but Britain might be expected to give up its claim to the archipelago. Mauritius has promised "uninterrupted operation" of the American facility and a new 99-year lease. Britain might have a military presence on Diego Garcia until its existing lease with the US runs out in 2036.
Although though the archipelago is small, its geopolitical significance appears to be significant: for the United States, it remains the sole relevant station in the Indian Ocean. However, in India, worries have been expressed that Mauritius may offer the Chagos Islands to Beijing in the future, maybe to pay off some of China's debt. And the ostensibly idyllic island paradise is also inadvertently involved in the Ukraine conflict: when British diplomats sought support for Ukraine, African heads of state and government are said to have asked where Britain got the right to want to drive out Russian armed forces while illegally occupying the Chagos Islands.
Translated from ORF.AT