Chagos: UK ignores UN deadline
Mauritius declares UK ‘an illegal colonial occupier’
The Prime Minister of Mauritius has branded the United Kingdom an 'illegal colonial occupier' after the British government ignored a United Nations deadline to return the Chagos Islands.
The British government does not recognise Mauritius' sovereignty over the archipelago in the Indian Ocean, however Mauritius claims it was forced to trade sovereignty over the islands for independence in 1965.
The United Nations demanded the UK hand over administration of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in May, and gave the British government a six-month deadline to comply with the resolution, which lapsed on Friday.
The UN General Assembly had adopted the resolution based on findings by the UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Britain must surrender control of the archipelago.
Britain forcibly evicted people from the islands, a sovereignty in the Indian Ocean disputed by the UK and Mauritius, in the 1960s and 1970s so the United States could build a military base.
A UN communique said: 'Since the decolonisation of Mauritius was not conducted in a manner consistent with the right to self-determination, the Assembly affirmed, the continued administration of the Archipelago constitutes a wrongful act.
'It urged the United Kingdom to co-operate with Mauritius to facilitate the resettlement of Mauritian nationals, including those of Chagossian origin, in the Chagos Archipelago and to pose no impediment to such efforts.'
The Foreign Office had previously said the joint UK-US defence facility on the British Indian Ocean Territory 'helps to keep people in Britain and around the world safe from terrorism, organised crime and piracy'.
A statement by the FCO said 'the UK has no doubt as to our sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory, which has been under continuous British sovereignty since 1814.'
Speaking in May, Dame Karen Pierce, the UK's ambassador to the UN said: 'The United Kingdom regrets that the General Assembly has today voted to adopt this resolution. 'The United Kingdom fully recognises the importance of the issue of decolonisation and the UN's role in that. The United Kingdom … sincerely regrets the manner in which Chagossians were removed from British Indian Ocean territory in the 1960s and the 1970s and we are determined to improve their lives where they have resettled.'
The UK agreed a package including £3 million with Mauritius for the detachment of the archipelago in 1965.
Chagossians were forcibly removed between 1967 and 1973 to make way for a US military facility on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the group.
Mauritius, which gained independ
Britain forcibly evicted people from the islands, a sovereignty in the Indian Ocean disputed by the UK and Mauritius, in the 1960s and 1970s so the United States could build a military base.
ence in 1968, maintains that the islands are its own and Chagossians have also brought cases in British courts for the right to return.