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By Duncan Campbell and Matthew Weaver
The Guardian (UK)
October 22, 2008
"Chagos islanders evicted by the British government in the 1970s ... lost their long-running battle to return to the Indian Ocean archipelago [on October 22, 2008].
"The islanders had previously won the right to return to all islands except Diego Garcia, the main island, where there is a US military base.
"The 3-2 ruling [on October 22, 2008] by the law lords overturns the islanders' victory and is the final stage of a legal battle that started 10 years ago.
"Lord Hoffmann ruled the government was entitled to legislate for a colony in the security interests of the United Kingdom.
[ ... ]
"In 1971 the British government used an immigration ordinance to remove the inhabitants compulsorily so Diego Garcia could be used as a US base.
[ ... ]
"The law lords were told during the hearing in July [2008] that Diego Garcia was regarded by the US since the 9/11 terrorist attacks as a 'defence facility of the highest importance ... a linchpin for the UK's allies.' ... The Foreign Office [also] argued that the United States had said that it would also present an unacceptable risk to its base."
To read the full article, click on the Title Line, above.
See Also:
- Support the Chagos Islanders!
Advocacy site, UK Chagos Support Association
- Diego Garcia: Remembering Paradise Lost
By Andrew Bomford
BBC News
January 10, 2008
- The Chagos Islands: A Sordid Tale
BBC News
November 3, 2000
"In the mid-1960s, the US was worried about possible Soviet expansion in the Indian Ocean and wanted a base in the region - but one without a 'population problem' which might upset the base's operation. ... British politicians, diplomats and civil servants began a campaign - in their own words - 'to maintain the pretence there were no permanent inhabitants' on the [Chagos] islands.
[ ... ]
"[R]esidents leaving the island were refused re-entry, then the copra plantations were bought up by the [British trust territory] administration and closed down, medical facilities and supply ships withdrawn.
"When the first Americans arrived on Diego Garcia, the largest atoll in the Chagos chain, the remaining residents were simply shipped out, first to a nearby island and then to Mauritius."
- Intervention and Exploitation: US and UK Government International Actions Since 1945
Chagos Islands
By Jonathan Le Vallois (and associates)
us-uk-interventions.org
"December [1966] - Britain secretly leases Diego Garcia to the US for 50 years, with the option of an extension. This is done in exchange for a discount of millions of dollars on Polaris nuclear submarines - a way of concealing the payment. The US pays rent of one dollar per year. The deal was not disclosed to the US Congress, the British Parliament, or the United Nations.
[ ... ]
"1968: The colonial authorities cut off food imports to the Chagos islands. After 1968 food ships do not sail to the islands. ... Britain begins illegal and secret removal of 1,500 population of Chagos islands, including Diego Garcia, following agreement to lease islands to US. Whitehall conspiracy begins, contending there are no indigenous inhabitants. ... The Foreign Office legal advisor notes that 'we are able to make up the rules as we go along and treat the inhabitants of [the trust territory] as not "belonging" to it in any sense'."
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