UK agrees to hand over last African colony to Mauritius and let its people return
The Guardian|October 04, 2024
Britain has agreed to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending years of bitter dispute over Britain's last African colony.
Haroon Siddique, Diane Taylor, Patrick Wintour
UK agrees to hand over last African colony to Mauritius and let its people return

The agreement will allow a right of return for Chagossians, whom the UK expelled from their homes in the 1960s and 1970s in what has been described as a crime against humanity and one of the most shameful episodes of postwar colonialism.

However, there will be an exception for the key island of Diego Garcia, which is home to a joint UK-US military base, and which will remain under UK control. Plans for the base were the reason Britain severed the Chagos Islands from the rest of Mauritius when it granted the latter independence in 1968 and forcibly displaced up to 2,000 people.

There was a mixed reaction to the announcement from Chagossians, not all of whom are happy that sovereignty has been handed to Mauritius.

But Olivier Bancoult, the chair of the Chagos Refugee Group, who was four years old when his family was deported to Mauritius, welcomed it, describing it as "a big day".

"This has been a long struggle lasting more than 40 years and many of our people have passed away," said Bancoult, who had mounted a series of legal challenges over the sovereignty of the islands in the UK courts since 2000. "But today is a sign of recognition of the injustice done against Chagossians who were forced to leave their homes."

This story is from the October 04, 2024 edition of The Guardian.

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This story is from the October 04, 2024 edition of The Guardian.

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