Posted on 05/11/2006 5:20:20 AM PDT by Androcles
LONDON (Reuters) - Indian Ocean islanders expelled by Britain to make way for a U.S. military base on Diego Garcia won the right on Thursday to go home after almost 40 years in exile.
Two judges ruled in favour of the Chagos islanders who had fought a protracted legal battle with the British government, which blocked their return to the idyllic archipelago where they had eked out a living fishing and coconut farming.
The 2,000 Chagossians were expelled by Britain and dumped hundreds of miles (km) away on the shores of Mauritius and Seychelles. For years they have lived as refugees and been treated as outcasts.
A jubilant Olivier Bancoult, who spearheaded the Chagossian campaign, welcomed the ruling.
"We always believed in our struggle. We always believed that what was done to us was unlawful. It is not possible to banish our rights," he said. "We will go back to our native land. It is now very clear that we have the right to do so."
The islanders had been forbidden from returning permanently on the grounds that their presence threatened the security of the Diego Garcia air base, which played a strategic role in the U.S.-led Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
The Indian Ocean island, the biggest in the archipelago, is home to 2,000 U.S. troops. The Chagossians will be allowed to return to the other, smaller islands, half way between Africa and Indonesia.
In 2000, the High Court ruled that the removal of the Chagos islanders was illegal. But they were blocked by Britain which said repopulating the islands would be "precarious and costly".
But on Thursday, High Court judges Peter Cresswell and Anthony Hooper decreed that special measures taken by the government to block their return were unlawful.
The government was given permission to appeal the ruling which has paved the way for an end to their exile. It was not immediately clear whether it would take up the option.
"The responsibility of our government for victimising its own citizens and its subservience to the demands of a foreign power are all too obvious," said Richard Gifford, the islanders' lawyer.
"We will now be inviting (Prime Minister) Tony Blair to meet with the democratic representatives of the Chagos people to undertake a serious and bona fide programme of resettlement," he told reporters outside the court.
In March, Britain allowed a group of 100 islanders to return home briefly for an 11-day visit as "a humanitarian gesture."
Some said the church they used to visit now had a towering coconut tree growing amid its ruins.
Others said once pristine white beaches were littered with dead corals and debris washed in by the Indian Ocean.
Ping! :)
My guess is that the first thing they do when they get back on the island is to complain about noisy aircraft, and some lawyer will file a suit!
There's a rather odd book called Outposts by Simon Winchestor which mentions his efforts to visit all the remaining outposts of the British empire. This was one of them. He had to charter a small sail boat to get there. The Americans were happy to see him and his companion but then the British arrived and forced them off the island and away from the area.
Seabee Battalion "MCB 65", commanded by CDR Frank Newcomb, USN, was the first battalion to be sent to Diego Garcia. They deployed from Roosevelt Roads, P.R. in 1972.
They were the "Rat Sluggers".
Interesting. I read his Surgeon of Crowthorne one which was strange but had a lot of style...
I had a college buddy who was an e-3 when they visited Diego Garcia. It just so happened that his dad was the commanding officer. His carrier drew up at the dock and the CO's car was waiting to pick him up, He said it was kinda of neat to have his ship's captain send the word for him to report to the car. He was also impressed as the car took him to HQ and all the folks saluting an e-3 in a car with an admiral's flag on it.
There's a couple of websites where people post their stories and experiences while posted at Diego Garcia. Some really wacky and funny stuff went on there in the past.
From what I remember reading the waters there have world class sport fishing.
Google "diego garcia" and browse through the links.
If I remember correctly, the only way for a "civilian" boat to get into the island is to declair an ememgency.
The island is a military location, no civilians.
Been there a couple of times on goverment boats.
There is nothing new here save perhaps the international aspect of it. I recall that when Stennis Space Center was being built in South Mississippi, many families were displaced and, in fact, a couple of small towns just suddenly ceased to exist. Life goes on though and even if at another location.
One of my duties was to drive the "Old Man" around the city, sometimes over to Embassy row for bridge games at Zumwalt's house.
It was very eerie to drive around Saigon after the 2200 curfew, a bird flag flying on the front of that U. S. Navy black Ford Ltd. The MP's would roll back the barricades as I drove around and this E-3 squid enjoyed the snappy salutes they presented the vehicle.
"Surgeon of Crowthorne"
wow, never heard of that one. My favorite so far is Krakatoa.
Androcles wrote:
> I'd forgotten Diego Garcia was British. <
If memory serves correctly, the tiny neighboring nation of Mauritius (once home to the dodo bird) has always claimed sovereignty over both Chagos and Diego Garcia -- under the theory that before independence, the British had ruled Mauritius together with the Chagos Archipelago as a single unit.
But given the military/strategic value of Diego Garcia, the British have never recognized that claim.
The fishing is superb, as is the diving/snorkeling. The best part for me was the surfing. Fantastic reef breaks and uncrowded, except for the sharks.
Sounds like a very pristine marine environment.
Unmentioned is that Chagos islanders descend from Indians and Africans the French imported to work on coconut plantations in the 1700s. If there were people there before the French obtained it I don’t know but the people bringing the lawsuit aren’t any more ‘native to the Chagos’ than Europeans are to North America.
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