The United Kingdom’s House of Commons this week adopted a bill on the handing back of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius. The decision has been welcomed by the descendants of those who were expelled from the Indian Ocean territory more than 50 years ago to make way for a military base.
The “Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill” passed after a second reading, with 330 votes to 174 on 9 September – thus ratifying Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago.
However, Diego Garcia island will remain under an Anglo-American military lease for 99 years with an annual payment of £101 million (€120 million), or £3.4 billion pounds (more than €4 billion) in total.
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Based on an agreement signed by a British court in May, the bill also provides significant financial support to the Mauritian government and the Chagossian community.
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Chagos Refugee Group spokesperson Olivier Bancoult expressed relief after the vote, which puts the dream of returning home within reach. “This vote shows that everything is moving in the right direction,” he said.
The announcement came as the Mauritian prime minister began his first state visit to India.
Navin Ramgoolam hopes to secure New Delhi’s support to organise a visit by Mauritian leaders and Chagossian representatives to the archipelago. The trip is expected to take place before the end of the year, with a highlight being a Mauritian flag-raising ceremony.
Colonial history
Tuesday’s vote marks a new chapter in the long story of Mauritian efforts to have Chagos returned.
Located several hundred kilometres south of the Maldives, the Chagos Islands were colonised by France in the 18th century, ceded to the UK in 1814 and merged with Mauritius in 1903.
In 1965, three years before Mauritius gained independence from the UK, London detached the Chagos from Mauritian territory.
At Washington’s request, the British then emptied the archipelago of its inhabitants to establish a military base on Diego Garcia, in the heart of the Indian Ocean.
More than 2,000 Chagossians were uprooted and expelled to Mauritius, the Seychelles and the UK.
Dispersed for half a century, they now hope for a return to their roots.
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‘A betrayal’
However, for some Chagossians, such as the group Lalit, Mauritius is “selling its sovereignty” over the Chagos.
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The group’s spokesperson Ragini Kistnasamy, who took part in a protest in front of the Mauritian parliament on Tuesday, told Le Mauritien website the bill was “a betrayal” after years of struggle.
“This bill stipulates that the king can, at any time, make Orders in Council, which he deems important for the base, concerning Diego Garcia and the other islands. It is clear that Great Britain and the United States will have total control over the Chagos.”
Handover of Chagos Islands to Mauritius ‘not an outright win’
For Mauritius’s Attorney General Gavin Glover, while this is a significant step forward, he says the biggest battle will remain in the House of Lords, the UK’s upper house of parliament.
Indeed, the bill must pass five stages in the House of Commons and the House of Lords respectively (first reading, second reading, committee stage, postponement stage, and third reading), then the final stage of Consideration of Amendments before Royal Assent.
“It will be a real test,” Glover told Mauritian news portal L’express.
Glover says this is because the anti-treaty lobby in the UK remains powerful, and the political composition of the House of Lords could lead to difficult debates.
“We must remain mobilised to… prepare for the future, because implementation will also be a long-term project.”
A Foreign Office director from the UK is expected in Mauritius from 29 September to 1 October to finalise technical aspects of the process.
