The U.K. recognized the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius’ claim to the Chagos Archipelago in an agreement signed May 22.
While Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam praised the deal, it elicited mixed reactions from many Chagossians, the islands’ original inhabitants. Starting in 1968, they were displaced from the chain of islands by British colonial rulers to set up a U.S. military base on Diego Garcia, the archipelago’s largest island. For years, Chagossians have demanded the right to return to their island homes.
The Chagos archipelago includes roughly 60 islands in the central Indian Ocean. Image by Andrés Alegría/Mongabay.
In 2010, the U.K. unilaterally established a marine protected area (MPA) in Chagos, an expanse of 640,000 square kilometers (245,000 square miles). It’s one of the world’s largest no-take MPAs and home to nearly 800 fish species, including 50 types of sharks, roughly 18 species of seabirds and nearly 300 species of reef-building corals, considered some of the healthiest reefs in the world.
However, the MPA was criticized by Chagossians as a pretext to keep Chagossians out and an example of ocean grabbing.
Most Chagossians were forcibly displaced to Mauritius or neighboring Seychelles. Some have made the U.K. their home.
“We have been fighting for many years for our right to return and reparations,” Olivier Bancoult, who heads the Chagos Refugees Group based in Mauritius, told Mongabay. “Instead of having nothing, it’s better we just take this opportunity.”
The decision to recognize Mauritian claims over the Chagos has faced opposition from some Chagossians living in the U.K. “I was not consulted, and these are not my demands,” Bernadette Dugasse, a Chagossian now living in London, told Mongabay. She and another Chagossian, Bertrice Pompe, launched a legal challenge to stop the deal, saying it will not allow them to return to their homes in Diego Garcia. A U.K. court rejected their challenge.
“Our human rights have been violated again and again,” Dugasse said. “I don’t think I will ever be able to settle on my birthplace.”
Mauritius can implement a resettlement program on all the islands except Diego Garcia, which, as a military base, will remain under U.K. control. “There would be no circumstances in which Mauritius would be able to prevent the UK or the US having full control over operations from Diego Garcia,” the explanatory memo attached to the agreement said.
The U.K. agreed to establish a trust fund for the Chagossians of 40 million pounds ($54 million) and will pay an annual grant of 45 million pounds ($60.7 million) for 25 years for the welfare of Mauritians.
Questions still loom over the fate of the Chagos Marine Protected Area. The Mauritian government has committed to set up a Mauritian MPA, and the U.K. agreed to help, but the details are still being worked out between the two countries.
Banner image: A view of Salomon Atoll, part of the Chagos Archipelago. Image by Anne Sheppard via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0).
