Ascension : UK CHAGOS SUPPORT ASSOCIATION.
Submitted by The Islander (Gavin Yon) 20.07.2006 (Article Archived on 21.09.2006)

The government has decided not to accept yet another High Court ruling that their action in exiling the Chagossians was irrational, unlawful and repugnant.

UPDATE :  JULY 2006

The government has decided not to accept yet another High Court ruling that their action in exiling the Chagossians was irrational, unlawful and repugnant. Why? According to a declassified U.S. memo because “any settlement of a resident civilian population even on the outer islands of the archipelago would significantly degrade the strategic importance of a vital military asset.”

 How exactly? Given that the U.S, has bases all over the world (including communist Cuba) with large civilian populations surrounding them, why would Chagossian re-settlement be a threat? Would they be any more of a threat than the 2,347  non-American guest workers already working on the base?  And why clear the entire Archipelago?

At every stage of their long struggle, the Islanders have thought British governments could surely stoop no lower just to please the U.S. but they have been repeatedly proven wrong. Now our government will spend huge amounts of tax payers’ money trampling over Chagossian Human Rights yet again. By appealing, the UK is employing delaying tactics, treating the courts with contempt and hindering the course of justice. In this Association, we are trying to ensure that justice is done.

On Radio5Live Breakfast, Monday 10^th.July, there was an item about Ascension Island which the journalist, Paul Greer, was visiting. This told of the current difficulties the Islanders are having with the Foreign Office (who actively encouraged moves to invest in property and businesses etc. then did a U turn.) References were made to the similarities with the Chagossian situation. This can be heard by visiting the BBC website (about 1 hour 50 minutes in to the programme.)

Britain deploys 1,200 military personnel to protect the 2,600 Falkland Islanders at a cost of £110 million a year. The Foreign Office thinks this is worth it because “The UK will not negotiate on sovereignty unless and until the islanders wish it.” The parliamentary all-party group on the Falklands says the islanders have a right to decide their own future. Of course they do : so should the Chagossian and Ascension Islanders. Please point out this irrationality to your MP, the PM, the Foreign office and all!

There was an excellent article by Phil Chamberlain in the Big Issue in the North, July 3^rd-9^th, entitled “We were made homeless by the UK government”. This will also be appearing in the Welsh and South West editions and has been forwarded to London and Scotland. It has moving personal accounts of their exile by some of the Islanders now living in Crawley.

A website article by a “yachtie”  has been drawn to our attention. The author tells how “We spent two months at Peros Banhos Atoll….” Lucky them, the visiting Islanders in May only had a few hours.

“At Isle du Coin there are the remains of an old settlement…the wreck of an old pier leads into the ghost town ruins of the settlement buildings. Near the remnants of the two-storey house is a good well. We drew its water to do our laundry and for showers. It has rained enough to catch water for drinking.”  Rather refutes some of the info given in the governments feasibility study and says much for the well that the water was still adequate and usable for laundry and shower purposes after all these years.

“There are some old fruit trees scattered about – guava, bilimbing, breadfruit, orange, lemon and others we can’t identify so don’t use.” Good soil fertility and rainfall then!

“There is also a herd of donkeys living here. We have seen as many as five on the beach in the early mornings, munching contentedly on young plants and very healthy looking.” It would seem that more than one donkey must have avoided being shot by the military during the “evacuation” of the Islanders over three decades ago. (For new readers - most of the animals were shot and the dogs gassed)

In the cemetery “There must be more that a hundred graves, mossy and overgrown now….There are still some figurines decorating the graves and one had flower holders made from wartime brass shell casings. The oldest date on a gravestone I found was 1895.”  At the time of the “Island Clearances”, the government claimed there were only migratory workers on the Islands. Hardly.

If anyone from the legal profession is reading this, they may know about a job opportunity – a new circuit judge is needed for the Falkland Islands and this post will also cover South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, British Antarctic Territory and the British Indian Ocean Territory (known to us as Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago). An article in July 1^st’s Daily Telegraph tells much about the work with regard to Falklands (18 hour commute and only a few weeks work a year) but no mention of whether there are any actual cases in Diego Garcia.

Thanks to your generosity, more work is going ahead on the poorest Chagossian housing on Mauritius. We are grateful for all contributions which go to very worthwhile projects.

We also appreciate all your feedback: ideas, suggestions etc.

Please continue to chase up your MPs and to spread the word to others – we dealt with that fairly fully in the last Update but can re-send it again if anyone missed it.

Now that the government has announced it intends appealing, it is more important than ever to get as many MPs as possible to support us in seeking justice for the exiled Islanders.

With many thanks for your continuing support,

Celia Whittaker
(Secretary)