Latest news with #BritishChagossians
Spectator
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Spectator
Was there another way to solve the Chagos Islands dispute?
I could not resist rushing to the High Court to witness the eleventh-hour challenge to the deal to give away the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius, brought by two valiant Chagossian women. Outside, their supporters chanted 'Chagossians British' and waved their passports. Inside, it was a legal massacre, with the government's lawyers insisting that the Foreign Secretary's power to make treaties is not reviewable by the courts, that David Lammy had 'broad powers of discretion' to make what deals he liked with Mauritius and that there had been no promise to consult with the Chagossians on its terms, which meant no promise had been broken. As the judge reeled off the grounds for overturning the injunction that had paused the deal overnight, it became brutally obvious that by not consulting them on the deal in any meaningful way and saying it didn't have to, Britain was doing a second great wrong to British Chagossians.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
British Chagossians accuse UK government of betrayal over sovereignty deal
Two women who brought an 11th-hour legal challenge to try to stop the UK transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius have accused the government of betrayal. British Chagossians Bertrice Pompe, 54, and Bernadette Dugasse, 68, who were both born on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia, vowed to keep fighting to try to realise their dream of returning to their place of birth. They obtained a high court injunction in the early hours of Thursday morning preventing the UK government from signing the deal with Mauritius. But later that day, another judge discharged the injunction and the agreement to hand over Britain's last African colony was sealed. While much of the fallout has focused on the cost to the UK of leasing back Diego Garcia, which is home to a UK-US airbase, and perceived security threats from Mauritius's relationship with China, many Chagossians feel sidelined. Chief among their concerns is that Diego Garcia is exempted from the right of return for Chagossians contained in the deal and that the Mauritius government will not do right by them. Dugasse, who was two-and-a-half when her family was forced to move to Seychelles, said on Friday that she was heartbroken. 'I don't know how to put it because the night before we won, and in the morning we lost – I've been betrayed by the British government,' she said. 'I will have to keep on fighting the British government till they accept for me to settle there [on Diego Garcia]. Do I know if I'll be able to be around to keep on fighting? I'm getting older and older and I'm losing my strength so I don't think I can make it for very long.' The presence of the military base was the reason the UK severed the Chagos Islands – renaming it the British Indian Ocean Territory – from the rest of Mauritius, when it granted the latter independence in 1968. The British forcibly displaced up to 2,000 people in what has been described as a crime against humanity and one of the most shameful episodes of postwar colonialism. Related: UK signs £3.4bn deal to cede sovereignty over Chagos Islands to Mauritius An internal Foreign Office memo notoriously belittled Chagossians as 'a few Tarzans and Man Fridays' and Pompe, just six months old when her family was expelled, referred to this as she explained how the UK's current actions were exacerbating its past transgressions. She said: 'We've been ignored, we've been invisible, we don't exist. They don't even mention us. When they expelled us, everything was hidden [as if] there were no human beings on the island, just some Man Fridays. And they're not saying it [now], they're not pronouncing the [same] words, but by their actions they're doing the same thing. We're being scammed over and over again.' Given their historic treatment by the British, it might seem strange that the legal challenge sought to keep the islands under British control, but the women explained that it was intended as a temporary arrangement. Dugasse said it would be 'for the time being, until we are able to manage our island by ourselves'. She elaborated, likening the deal to going 'out of the frying pan, into the fire', and added: 'Like my grandparents used to say: 'Better the devil you know than the devil you don't know.'' Of the Chagossians in Mauritius, many of whom support the deal, she said: 'They forgot that in the past they were campaigning against the Mauritian government for dumping them in rough houses, dirty places.' Pompe and Dugasse pledged to continue the fight by urging MPs to vote against the deal in parliament and also through the courts. 'I'm still feeling hopeful,' said Pompe. '[Thursday] was a little bit of a disappointment, but after that we've had so much support, especially from other Chagossian groups. 'I'm going to keep working with my lawyers, and we're going to bring another case. So it's not over until the fat lady sings – and that's me.' The government made no reference to the Chagossians in its press release on Thursday. It described the agreement as a 'legal necessity', given international court rulings which said it should return the islands to Mauritius, and said it had secured the future of the 'strategically critical' Diego Garcia base.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
The United Kingdom is Giving Up Control of Notable Islands
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed an agreement Thursday to deliver sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. According to reports, the deal cedes control of the Indian Ocean territories Mto Mauritius while allowing the United Kingdom and United States to continue operating the strategically important military base located on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands. In return, the U.K. will pay Mauritius $136 million per year to lease the base for 99 years. At a press conference, Starmer called the agreement the "only way to maintain the base in the long term," per the BBC. The Labour Party leader added that the base on Diego Garcia is 'right at the foundation of our safety and security at home.' "Almost everything we do from the base is in partnership with the US," Starmer added. "President Trump has welcomed the deal along with other allies, because they see the strategic importance of this base and that we cannot cede the ground to others who would seek to do us harm." The new pact faced significant opposition from both native Chagossians and British politicians from other parties. Conservative party leaders have argued that the deal is too costly and ignores the close links between Mauritius and China. "Labour's Chagos Surrender Deal is bad for our defence and security interests, bad for British taxpayers and bad for British Chagossians," Conservative Party foreign affairs spokeswoman and MP Priti Patel said on X/Twitter. A last-minute injunction, brought on by Chagossian women Bernadette Dugasse and Bertrice Pompe, resulted in the signing of the deal being delayed. The injunction was lifted by Judge Martin Chamberlain, who said Britian's interests would be "substantially prejudiced" if the stoppage continued.
Business Insider
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
The UK hands over its last African colony to Mauritius in a £3.4 billion deal
On Thursday, the United Kingdom inked an agreement to hand over jurisdiction of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, where a UK-US military installation is situated. This is coming months after U.S. President Donald Trump gave his stamp of approval for the handover. 'I have a feeling it's going to work out very well,' Donald Trump had said to the Prime Minister of the UK, Keir Starmer, in February, during his visit to the White House. The new multibillion-dollar agreement will, however, allow Britain to keep control of the strategically significant US-UK air base on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Indian Ocean archipelago, on a 99-year lease, as seen on Reuters. The deal, first proposed in autumn last year, will see Britain pay its former colony £101 million ($136 million) for the aforementioned lease period. "There's no alternative but to act in Britain's national interest by agreeing to this deal," the Prime Minister of the UK stated. 'The net cost over the length of the lease would be around £3.4 billion if inflation was factored in, he added. The signing took place after the meticulously planned event stalled, owing to the High Court's granting of an interim order to attorneys for a British person born in the Chagos Islands early on Thursday morning. "The strategic location of this base is of the utmost significance to Britain, from deploying aircraft to defeat terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan to anticipating threats in the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific," Prime Minister Keir Starmer told a news conference. "By agreeing to this deal now, on our terms, we're securing strong protections, including from malign influence, that will allow the base to operate well into the next century." The UK's current administration has long maintained that the agreement is necessary to ensure Diego Garcia's future, despite criticism from opposition parties that it is pursuing an excessively expensive deal that would benefit China. "Labour's Chagos Surrender Deal is bad for our defence and security interests, bad for British taxpayers and bad for British Chagossians," Conservative Party foreign affairs spokeswoman Priti Patel said on X. Chagos islands: UK and Mauritius The United Kingdom formed the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) in 1965, isolating the islands from Mauritius until the latter gained independence in 1968. For decades, the Chagossians have been fighting for their right to return, submitting cases in British courts. The UK had repeatedly blocked their return, citing security concerns about the US military installation on Diego Garcia. In 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that Britain must return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, declaring the separation unlawful under international law. The United Nations General Assembly voted in support of Mauritius' claim.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Britain's High Court blocks transfer of Chagos Islands to Mauritius
May 22 (UPI) -- A signing ceremony ceding the British Indian Ocean Territory of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius on Thursday was called off at the last moment after Britain's High Court granted an injunction in the middle of the night to islanders opposing the deal. "On-call" judge, Justice Goose, granted the temporary stay at 2:25 a.m. local time to two Chagos petitioners, ruling that the defendant, the Home Office, must "maintain the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom over the British Indian Ocean Territory until further order," pending a further hearing during working hours Thursday. The 11th-hour legal action forced the ceremony with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Mauritian government representatives to be put on hold. Stuart Luke, legal counsel for Beatrice Pompe, one of the claimants, told the Financial Times that his client was "deeply concerned that the government has chosen to give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands without any consultation or protections for those that are indigenous to the islands." A British government spokesman declined to comment but insisted the deal with its former colony was "the right thing to protect the British people and our national security." Under the agreement, Britain will transfer sovereignty to Mauritius of the archipelago, home to a giant U.K.-U.S. military base on the island of Diego Garcia, but retain control of Diego Garcia by leasing it back on a 99-year, multi-billion dollar deal. The United States pays Britain for use of the base, but the figure has never been made public. Diego Garcia inhabitants have been engaged in a decades-long legal battle against their forcible displacement during the construction of the base throughout the late 1960s, mainly to Mauritius, the Seychelles and Britain, with the Chagos Islands split off from Mauritius when it became independent in 1968. Joining a protest by Chagos people outside Parliament, the opposition Conservative Party's shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel called Thursday's legal intervention "a humiliation" for Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy. "Their rights, views and voices over the future of Chagos have been ignored by Labour which continues to cause distress and uncertainty for this wonderful community," she wrote in a post on X. "Labour's Chagos Surrender Deal is bad for our defence and security interests, bad for British taxpayers and bad for British Chagossians," said Patel. The deal has also been condemned by Human Rights Watch, which has demanded Britain and the United States pay reparations after a 2023 report alleged the "forced displacement of the Chagossians and ongoing abuses amount to crimes against humanity committed by a colonial power against an Indigenous people." The United States initially welcomed the deal when it was struck in October and will see the other 57 currently uninhabited islands in the archipelago opened up for settlement. Diego Garcia, however, will remain out of bounds to its former residents and their descendants on "security grounds." U.S. President Joe Biden called the deal "a clear demonstration that through diplomacy and partnership, countries can overcome long-standing historical challenges to reach peaceful and mutually beneficial outcomes." But the deal was delayed after Donald Trump won back the presidency in November, pending his approval, and after the elections days later in Mauritius over the value of the lease. Trump gave his backing in February during a visit to Washington by Starmer, despite warnings from Secretary of State Marco Rubio and other senior Republicans who said Mauritius' links to China posed a "serious security threat" to U.S. national security.
