Chagos islands
Britain to return Chagos Islands to Mauritius ending years of dispute
La Grande Bretagne restitue les îles Chagos à l’île Maurice, mettant fin à des années de dispute et une dizaine de rounds de négociations
Après plus d’un demi-siècle de litige, le Royaume-Uni dit reconnaître la souveraineté de Maurice sur l’archipel des Chagos, un accord qui permet tout de même à Londres de conserver sa base militaire commune avec les Etats-Unis sur l’île de Diego Garcia
.Agreement to hand back UK’s last African colony follows 13 rounds of negotiations and international pressure
The UK has agreed to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending years of bitter dispute over Britain’s last African colony.
The agreement will allow a right of return for Chagossians, who the UK expelled from their homes in the 1960s and 1970s, in what has been described as a crime against humanity and one of the most shameful episodes of postwar colonialism.
However, there will be an exception for the key island of Diego Garcia, which is home to a joint UK-US military base, and which will remain under UK control. Plans for the base were the reason the UK severed the Chagos Islands from the rest of Mauritius when it granted the latter independence in 1968 and forcibly displaced up to 2,000 people.
There was a mixed reaction to the announcement from Chagossians, not all of whom are happy that sovereignty has been handed to Mauritius.
But Olivier Bancoult, chair of the Chagos Refugee Group, who was four years old when his family was deported to Mauritius, welcomed it, describing it as “a big day”.
“This has been a long struggle lasting more than 40 years and many of our people have passed away,” said Bancoult, who had mounted a series of legal challenges over the sovereignty of the islands in the UK courts since 2000. “But today is a sign of recognition of the injustice done against Chagossians who were forced to leave their homes.”
He said it was not yet clear how many Chagossians would like to return to the islands, many of which are uninhabitable. While acknowledging that those born on the largest island – Diego Garcia – would not be able to return, he expressed hope that Chagossians could be prioritised for jobs there.
Mauritius Presses Claim for Indian Ocean Islands Under ‘Unlawful’ UK Administration
The ICJ founded in 2019 that Mauritius is the rightful owner of the Chagos Islands, which are currently administered by Britain and host a crucial U.S. military base.
A delegation from Mauritius is set to sail Tuesday to the Chagos Islands to press the country’s claim for the strategically important Indian Ocean archipelago, which is also claimed by Britain and is home to an American military base.
It is the first time Mauritius has embarked upon an expedition to the islands without seeking the permission of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth said in a statement, adding it is a “concrete step” in “exercising its sovereignty and sovereign rights in relation to the Chagos Archipelago.”
Those rights were strengthened in 2019 by a non-binding opinion from the International Court of Justice, which said that Britain had unlawfully carved up Mauritius, an archipelago nation whose main island is some 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) off the southeast coast of Africa. The Chagos islands were a part of Mauritius until Britain separated them a few years before Mauritius became independent from British colonial rule in 1968.
The United Nations General Assembly followed that opinion with a resolution two months later demanding that Britain end its “colonial administration” of the Chagos Islands, which include the U.S. military base on Diego Garcia, and return them to Mauritius. Even Pope Francis weighed in, saying that Britain should obey the U.N. resolution.
TANIKO Madagascar 