Unconditional return of the Chagos Islands – Navin Ramgoolam meeting with William Hague
Navin Ramgoolam should have used his recent visit to British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, in London to press for an unconditional return of the Chagos Islands so that the Chagossians can return to their homeland. Between 1968 and 1973, around 2000 of them had been forcibly evicted by the British Authorities to make way for the use of joint U.S. -British military base on Diego Garcia, the main island of the Chagos Archipelago.
The nuclear capacity military base of Diego Garcia represents a threat to the local and global environment as well as to world peace and should be dismantled, but the present administration of Mauritius appears to have closed its eyes on the African Union demands for the demilitarisation of the Indian ocean and on the issue of re-establishing Mauritian sovereignty over Diego Garcia.
Instead of supporting the plight of the islanders crying out for justice, especially from the country that deported them, it seems that our Prime Minister is collaborating with the British Government to create a 250,000 square-mile marine reserve which presumably would also protect the status of the current residents of the islands, namely the British and thousands of U.S. military and their naval facilities on Diego Garcia while putting yet another obstacle in the path of the Chagossians of whom the vast majority wants to return home.
In 1960, the British government misled the U.S. into believing that the Chagos islands were “inhabited” and in 1965, Navin Ramgoolam’s father, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, leader of the Labour party and his ruling coalition partner PMSD was party to the excision of the Chagos Islands in exchange for the independence of Mauritius.
Due to their actions, the inhabitants of the Chagos islands were forcibly removed from their homeland without their consent and with the option of no return. The chagossians’rights to participate in the decision making in matters which would affect their rights are being denied again by the present governments of Mauritius and Great Britain. The British government is using the creation of the marine sanctuary as an excuse to prevent the resettlement of the islanders. Britain has no right over these islands and equally has no right to dictate on what should be done with them.
The British government should immediately end the illegal occupation of our territory and provide all means to repatriate the native inhabitants of the Chagos Islands. They must have full sovereignty over their land, sea, and the environment of the Chagos Archipelago.
Under the British administration, the Chagos islands which supported the lives of the chagossians for 5 generations are drastically changed.
The island of Diego Garcia is extensively developped with military infrastructure since 1973 : Initial dredging of the lagoon to expand the berthing facility, building new hangars for bombers, the extension of the runway, the construction of “camp justice” (to hold suspected terrorists from Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Somalia) and the construction of the naval facilities command has further increased the depletion of natural resources of the island. The combination of rising ocean temperatures alongside military development such as the creation of harbour and berthing facilities for submarines destroyed much of the coral reefs on the Chagos. Greenpeace, the Human Rights watch, Dr P.H. Sand from the university of Munich, Prof Klaus Bosselmann from University of Berlin, specialists in the field of climate change, biodiversity, justice, human rights and global governance, myself, and many peace-loving people of the world do not support the creation of a marine reserve around the Chagos Islands. “Deporting the population from their islands by force and then declaring the latter as a nature sanctuary are unacceptable”.
By Atman Ramchalaon (Filmmaker from Mauritius, based in the Netherlands)
Actually Greenpeace do support the creation of the MPA: http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/oceans/why-greenpeace-supports-marine-reserve-chagos-20100224
And so do the majority of biodiversity specialists and marine conservationists: http://protectchagos.org/wp-content/uploads/MPA-FACILITATOR-REPORT.pdf
Interesting also that you say that Chagossians were’nt consulted, when the report above clearly indicates that they were. The Diego Garcian society – one of the largest Chagossian groups in the world – supported the MPA.
Maybe do your research better next time?
Greenpeace wants to see justice first for Mauritius and for the chagossians.
When that is done, Mauritius, the legal owner of the chagos archipelago
together with the chagossians will decide what should be done in our
territorial waters . We are not going to let British criminals dictate us again!
Since the exision of Diego-Garcia by the British, 45 years ago, we are still
waiting for our property to return back from the hands of those who stole it.
Why should our government negotiate for something which historically and
judicially belongs to us?
Why should we negotiate with a state that has violated our rights for 45 years
and continues to do so?
Why should we negotiate with a state that has violated Mauritian sovereignty
and disobeys international laws and resolutions?
Why should we negotiate with a state that has uprooted our people from
their homeland by force?
Why should we negotiate with a so called civilized country that has spread
lies to the international community by telling them that the chagos islands
were “”Unhabited”"
Why should we negotiate wth a state that has illegally occupied our
land and is making money by leasing it to a military power which contributes
to an increase in tension in the indian ocean region an which contributes
to a danger to our neighbours and to the rest of the world?
In 1965, due to Navin Ramgoolam’s father Sir Seewoosagar Ramgoolam
and his ruling partner Gaetan Duval our property was ceded by Britain in
exchange for the promise of independence. Sir Seewoosagar Ramgoolam
told us that he would “” negotiate” with Britain for the sovereignty to be
returned to Mauritius, but in reality he did not pressed Britain over the
issue. His Labour Party was worried about upsetting its right wing PMSD
partner which was opposed to Mauritian sovereignty over the island.
In 1982, after repeated demands from the O.A.U and from the countries
lying around the indian ocean, Sir Seewoosagar Ramgoolam agreed
to “” negotiate” with the UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher on the
issue. The ironlady rejected the Mauritian claim. ” Diego-Garcia has
never been part of Mauritian territory she said the island was linked
to Mauritius only because it was administered through Port-Louis”
After Sir Seewoosagar Ramgoolam’s defeat in 1982, MMM’s foreign
minister Jean Claude de L’estrac While on visit at the O.A.U summit
in Tripoli promised to take the issue to the international court of justice
but instead he went to ” negotiate” with is colleague Francis Pym
without success.
And yet again prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam is trying to make us
believe that he could get our property back from Britan through negotiations
ingoring the fact that all his predecessors were fruitless.
If prime minister Navin Ramgoolam is sincerely commited to re-establish
Mauritian sovereignty over Diego-Garcia, he should not negotiate or compromise with the British!!!! Navin Ramgoolam should immediately
drag the British criminals to the international court of justice in the Hague,
( Netherlands) for what has happened to Diego-Garcia clearly contravenes
UN resolution 15/14 which says in substance “No colonial administration
is entitled to dismantle a colony before granting independence to that
country and since Diego-Garcia was detached from Mauritius three years
before independence this is a clear violation of international law.
Regards,
Atman Ramchalaon
Atman Ramchalaon, The Chagos Islands belong to the Chagossians not to the Mauritians. The Chagossians are Roman Catholic and were badly treated by the Asians(non-christians) in Mauritius. SSR who was the First Minister of the devolved Mauritian Parliament ( known as Legislative Assembly in those days) , had abundant powers and made a deal with the British at a Constitutional Conference in london in 1965 at Lancaster House to detach the Chagos Archipelagos from the British Colony of Mauritius in exchange for full independence of Mtius. Please note that the Mauritian authorities received several millions of pounds of compensation from the British for this deal but the poor Chagossians barely received any of this money. The Mauritian Government in those days failed to find suitable accommodations and jobs for these families who were expelled from their home land and were treated like beasts and animals by the State of Mauritius. They were dumped on the outskirts of Port Louis in Pailles, Cassis, Roches Bois and tranquebar near the mountain with no running water, no toilet facilities. They were racially and religiously discriminated to obtain employment and to apply for social housing. Many will remember how they used to demonstrate peacefully in the Capital against their appalling conditions and treatment but had to shut their mouths and return their camps because the PRU ( Riot units) would beat them to death. You mentioned violation of international law? fair enough! What about the violation of the human rights and human dignity of these Chagossians committed by the State of Mauritius? Do you think Mauritius can get away with it? What about Mauritius starting to compensate these Chagossians the money paid by Britain in early 70′s for Mauritius to assist the Chagossians in their re-settlement? The Chagossians should be entitled to claim their money from the State of Mauritius and with interests.
The Chagos Islands belong to the Chagossians and if Britain wants to give up sovereignty and control over the BIOT, the islands should go back to the Chagossians who are the real owners of these islands. As masters of their islands , they should be the decision makers and decide about how to manage their territory. Mauritius has no business there especially after failing to protect these individuals from discrimination and racism. I don’t think the Chagossians would like to be governed by Mauritian Colonists who would dictate them how to run their islands and also benefit from their wealth.
John, thank you for your reaction.! The chagos islands belongs to Mauritius
historically and judicially that’s why the British negociated with the Mauritian
assembly and not with the chagossians. During the Lancaster House
conference, some members of the Mauritian delegation warned prime
minister Seewoosagar Ramgoolam not to accept the exision of the
chagos in exchange for Independence but Ramgoolam neglected them.
The compensation money was indeed given to Mauritius, but until today
the chagossians haven’t received a single penny from it. They should
claim their money from Mauritius! .Yes, the chagossians were racially
and religiously discriminated. I wonder if Ramgoolam and his ruling
coalition partner Gaetan Duval in those days would have dared to sign
any deal with the British if the chagossians were Hindus/Moslims.
The deal between Ramgoolam and the British were made without
the consent of the chagossians. Instead of protection the rights
of its citizens , Prime minister Ramgoolam and Gaetan Duval
colaborated with the british and the americans to deport the native
inhabitants of the chagos. After the deportation, tons of materials
were shipped to Diego-Garcia via Mauritius. This continued while
MMM was in power. I do remember the peaceful demonstrations
of the chagossians in Port Louis, I have a few photo’s of chagossian
women wounded by the Riot Units and iam very much aware of the
hardship they have gone through. The creation of BIOT and the occupation
of the chagos by the british is illegal, Mauritius is the legal owner and
should claim its territory back from Britain. The british govt. fooled the
chagossians by granting them british nationality!!!!! The chagossians were
born and brought up on Mauritian territory and not on BIOT which was
created afterwards ( illegally )
If Britain will give up its illegal control over the chagos, then the chagossians
should decide if they want to be governed by Mauritius or not
The delegation of the ACP and the EU during a summit in the Seychelles has
condemned the planned creation of a marine santuary around the chagos islands by the british and the mauritian government. This should be a clear
message to Navin Ramgoolam’s administration !!!!!