Does Britain Still Have an African “Colony?”
Despite an international agreement that aims to end the dispute around the Chagos archipelago, Britain has not ensured reparations for the displacement of Chagossians and still pledges the island to the US as a military base.
The Chagos Islands are located in the Indian Ocean, northeast of the island nation of Mauritius. Mauritius gained its independence in 1968, yet the country maintained at the International Court of Justice that it was coerced into exchanging the Chagos Archipelago for its freedom. The UK also forcibly expelled around 1,500 to 2,000 native islanders in order to use the land as a shared military base known as Diego Garcia. They also falsely declared that the islands had no permanent population to avoid compensating the local people and continue colonial actions without needing to report to the UN.
After centuries of work in French and British-owned coconut plantations, the Chagossian people had developed their own Creole language, music, and culture. One native Chagossian shared his experience in an article by Human Rights Watch, saying, “Life was easy, it was like Paradise… My mother cried and said to us ‘Now we will live a very different life’ And that’s when the nightmare started.” The Chagossian people suffered after their expulsion from their homeland and lived in abject poverty in Mauritius or Seychelles. Some of the population, including children, died from the extreme destitution or “sagren” meaning “ a mix of nostalgia, desperation and overwhelming sorrow – a sickness for home so intense it can be lethal.”
The Mauritian government and the owners of the coconut plantation companies received financial compensation from the UK for the loss of their land. Yet, the native Chagossian islanders only received small sums after years of demonstration and litigation. The UK gave Mauritius’s government money which was eventually distributed to some of the Chagossians. Yet, the British government demanded that the islanders sign or thumbprint an English document that acknowledged they would never return to Chagos. The meager compensation and papers, written in complex legal terms in a language that most Chaggossians did not understand, shattered their right to return home.
The United States, despite little interaction with the Chagossian people, is not absolved of blame for this situation. The US gave the UK a substantial reduction in the price of nuclear weapons in exchange for the strategic military location offered by the archipelago. For example, the UK was given a $14 million discount on Polaris missile systems consisting of nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missiles. Furthermore, their operation of the base, Diego Garcia, prevents native Chagossians from returning due to “cost” and “security” issues. As drafters of the 1945 Charter which outlined crimes against humanity, including “deportation,” the United States and the UK have much to answer for in terms of reparation and restitution for the Chagossian people. This newest deal allows Mauritius to allow Chagossians back to certain islands, yet not the largest island which is home to Diego Garcia. It also involves an undisclosed financial sum and a trust fund to “support the economy” and support Chagossian descendants. Yet, US interests have not been affected and the military base could continue operations for the next 99 years.