No take, of course, holds no jurisdiction over the inhabitants of Diego Garcia – the thousands of soldiers living there. Later Britain returned copies of the 1965 to 1971 Biot registers to the Seychelles and she kept all the old registers thus making it impossible for her own citizens to have access to their Civil Status records. By the mid twentieth century, there were thriving villages, schools, a hospital and above all, a benign, peaceful and undisturbed way of life that the Chagossian’s had enjoyed for generations on the islands. 11The first group of « human cargo » arrived on the Seychelles on the 500 ton cargo ship the Nordvaer (« the boat of shame ») on Thursday 30th September 1971. Julien Durup, « The Chagos. A total of 81 commercial ships visited the place coming from Ile de France (Mauritius). Before boarding the Mauritius, they were offered employment by Paul Moulinie and Company (who was managing Biot and Agalega) on Agalega island so as to keep their deportation secret and out of contact with those that had already arrived in Mauritius. In 2009, Wikileaks released classified US embassy cables detailing UK plans to turn the islands of Chagos into a Marine Protected Area, stating that it would make it near impossible for the Chagossians to win the right of return. About 1,000 pet dogs were taken – some straight from screaming children – and gassed with exhaust fumes from American military vehicles. It was before the constitutional conference for Mauritian independence was settled. Not surprisingly, the Chagossian islanders began to die, some from malnutrition and disease, some from drugs, but many, as the islanders say, from sadness. This agreement – in direct contradiction with UN resolution 1514 and international law which stated that colonies being decolonized had to be done as a whole – not carved up for profit – was hidden from both the British Parliament and US Congress. L’historique du transfert des populations des Chagos est présenté ainsi que l’identité juridique de ces dernières et leurs revendications. They had difficulties in getting married, having jobs and even doing religious confirmation. Our History The Chagos Archipelago is made up of 65 coral islands in the Indian Ocean; it lies midway between Africa and Asia, 500 km south of the Maldives. By the end of the 18th century the population was 300. The “former inhabitants would find it difficult, if not impossible, to pursue their claim for resettlement on the islands if the entire Chagos Archipelago were a marine reserve,” stressing that the UK’s “environmental lobby is far more powerful than the Chagossian’s advocates.”. 1 It was in 1776 that the first group of people was sent to the Chagos Islands and the settlement was on the Island of Diego Garcia. When Mauritius gained independence from Britain in 1968, it was under the condition that Mauritius would not claim Diego Garcia and the Chagos islands. Thus far, both the UK and US government have failed to take responsibility for the forced exile – mass kidnapping – of the Chagossian people, despite numerous lawsuits and petitions. The majority of the population was native.2. Mauritius was compelled to take care of somebody else’s population with a different culture. In 2012, the European Court of Human Rights found the Chagos Island v. the United Kingdom inadmissible, siting that since some Chagossians had received compensation in the 1982 ruling, they had no claim to “victim status”. Those who transited on the « Isle of Farquhar » were allowed to sleep under a shed at the end of the Long Pier while the boat was in Port Victoria. They knew that since 1965, the Chagossians had never adapted themselves in Mauritius. The « human cargo » was not allowed to disembark while she was in port. Therefore, I strongly advocate that there be none there when we take over and establish the base » (Ram Mannick 1982: 13-14). Ram Mannick,1982, Victim of Imperialism or Mauritian Muddle?, London, Mauritian Educational Association. De l’Estrac J.C., 2011b, Next year in Diego Garcia…, translated by Touria Prayag, Singapore, Le Printempsv. It began with an embargo aimed at starving the population out. The Worst Part of Trump Paying Zero in Taxes? In 1814, with the end of the Napoleonic wars, the Chagos along with Mauritius and the Seychelles were ceded to Great Britain through the Paris treaty. With the 1979 Constitution, things went worse for they had to pay a substantial amount of money to become a Seychellois citizen, and some are still without papers and they cannot vote in elections. 4Sir Robert Scott, a former Governor of Mauritius, visited the Chagos in the 1950s. Voir la notice dans le catalogue OpenEdition, Plan du site – Mentions légales et Crédits – Flux de syndication, Nous adhérons à OpenEdition Journals – Édité avec Lodel – Accès réservé, Vous allez être redirigé vers OpenEdition Search, The Chagos. With no money from their broken contract, they were forced to sleep under shop verandahs for some time until their relatives were contacted. Many Chagossians migrated to the U.K at their own expense, to claim their birth right. 7Britain was forced on her own by its former colony, the Usa to depopulate the Chagos of its indigenous population of British subjects, and force them into exile in a foreign country, against all the principal of the United Nations, the principles of human rights and the Magna Carta, a unique case, perhaps without precedent, in the British colonial history. The campaign of terror to forcibly remove the Chagossians began in the 1960s, during the British period of decolonization. The islands were discovered in the early sixteenth century by the Portuguese. Alyssa Rohricht maintains The Black Cat Revolution and can be reached at aprohricht@msn.com. Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II is no more the head of State of Mauritius. On one voyage from the Chagos, the Nordvaer carried a cargo of 208 Chagossians in her hold, they were the slaves of the modern society. The Chagos Archipelago consists of over 50 small islands in the Indian Ocean. The fate of an entire defenceless population would be sealed by the U.K. and the US with the complicity of Mauritius. 8In April 1965, Mr. Anthony Greenwood, the British Foreign Secretary, visited Mauritius. They were then taken to Mauritius. This brutal ‘welcome’ has left families divided and penniless, without the skills or resources to integrate well into the U.K. From 1773 to 1810, the importance of the Chagos was greater than that of the island of Rodrigues. 19In 1982, Mauritius signed an agreement with Britain. 10Soon after creating the Biot in 1965, Britain decided to exile the Chagossians, its own citizens, in small groups to Mauritius. The late 1960’s and early 1970’s, saw an abrupt end to this unique and peaceful way of life. The majority of the early slaves in the Chagos seems to have come certainly from Senegal. So even though many of them had never received any compensation, even though Chagossians in the Seychelles did not even participate in the 1975 case, even though the amount of money paid to the Chagossians that took it was laughably small, and even though many of the people who signed the document to take the money were sometimes illiterate, spoke Creole or were unaware of what they were signing away – victim status was not afforded to them. A small number of Ilois went to the United Kingdom. In the meantime, Chagossians push on, fighting for reparations, their right of return, and football. There were 146 persons in a boat that was legally allowed to carry only 12 cabin passengers. The scars of this traumatic experience of living in enforced exile are still visible in our community today. In 1969, Mr. J.R. Todd, the first Biot Administrator, described the Chagos population as follows (1969: 19): « In addition to Seychellois and Mauritius, there are a number of persons employed who were born in Chagos and whose parents and some cases whose grandparents who were also born in the islands. They went on to build one of the most important US military bases outside of the United States. The Chagossian people evolved their own distinctive Creole language and their own culture. Philibert Loizeau of the opposition party, then, the « Seychelles Peoples United Party », went to photograph these poor Chagossians. We don’t shake our readers down for money every month or every quarter. 22Mauritius’ claim over the Chagos was backed by the O.A.U., the U.N. and the British Labour Party declaration of 1970 (supported by Robin Cook), which said that the next labour Government will do all in its power to seek the return of the Chagos to Mauritius.