CHAGOSSIANS: IN SEARCH OF JUSTICE

Mukesh Kumar

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 Ocean Territories (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.

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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

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 the introduction 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 native population, 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 18 th 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 continuously asserting 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 personal 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 British High 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.

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/687pxChagos_map.PNG