Has anyone else been following the saga of the Chagos Islands? There’s been a sudden development:
Background: When Mauritius gained independence from the UK in 1968, the UK kept some extremely remote islands – the Chagos Islands. It turned the biggest one, Diego Garcia, into a joint American-British military base. And it expelled all the Chagossians – about 2000 people.
For the last half-century, Britain’s atrocious treatment of the Chagossians has largely escaped international notice.
Now – even though the UK is ceding the Chagos Islands (except for Diego Garcia) back to Mauritius – there is no indication that the Chagossians will be allowed to return and/or will be given reparations.
Hell, yes & Damn straight! I visited the place twice on what the Navy laughingly called a port call. And after I retired from the Navy, I actually worked on the island as a contractor employee (I was a department manager) for approximately half a year. The job sucked, mostly becuase of the employee demographics and, shall we say, their interesting approach to rules, regulations, and laws.
The island is gorgeous and, I believe, would be better served as a green tourism site. Of course the Îlois should be the ones to make that determination.
Speaking of the atrocious treatment of the Îlois, There’s a John Pilger documentary, Stealing a Nation, on Youtube.
So, those folks who know the place would never want to go there, but it’s a gorgeous tourism site? I’m missing something, here.
And what’s the relationship between the Îlois and the Mauritiuan government? Once Mauritius has control again, are they likely to allow the Îlois to return?
In your better-informed opinion, is Diego still strategically vital (if it ever was?)
Every cite I find seems biased, noting the island’s nickname “Footprint of Freedom,” and its necessity as a Point d’appui for military operations. (Looking forward to wherever I can now use the term Point d’appui in a sentence)
I’ll await your response but otherwise will remain hors d’combat in this discussion
Those who know what it’s like working as a civilian on the island won’t want to go back to that job. The environment, though, is gorgeous but not pretty enough to overcome the working situation.
Here is the Wiki page on the Îlois. If they do get the entire territory, including Diego Garcia, back, then I could see the Mauritian government being happy with that. The real question is what it would take to make it a viable choice for the Îlois to return.
There’s been some chatter about the effect on the Internet of this change. The Chagos islands were “The British Indian Ocean Territory,” with the Top Level Domain of .io - a popular choice for some folks. But when the territory goes away, (I’m told) the TLD automatically (automatically by bureaucratic process) goes away too.
Why do you say The UK is 'returning" the islands? The islands never belonged to the independent nation of Mauritius. In fact the UK bought the islands from the colony of Mauritius in 1965. Diego Garcia has belonged to the UK since 1814.
Note that the British tried to make the area a protected marine area, but Mauritius went to the UN and demanded the rights to fish there.
In fact, before the French moved plantation workers there, the Island was uninhabited.