BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY

Regarding the British Indian Ocean Territory, aka the Chagos Islands, the UK and Mauritius governments issued a joint statement on the 3 October, which stated:

‘Under the terms of this treaty the United Kingdom will agree that Mauritius is sovereign over the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia. At the same time, both our countries are committed to the need, and will agree in the treaty, to ensure the long-term, secure and effective operation of the existing base on Diego Garcia which plays a vital role in regional and global security.  For an initial period of 99 years, the United Kingdom will be authorised to exercise with respect to Diego Garcia the sovereign rights and authorities of Mauritius required to ensure the continued operation of the base well into the next century.

The treaty will address wrongs of the past and demonstrate the commitment of both parties to support the welfare of Chagossians.  Mauritius will now be free to implement a programme of resettlement on the islands of the Chagos Archipelago, other than Diego Garcia, and the UK will capitalise a new trust fund, as well as separately provide other support, for the benefit of Chagossians.

It will also herald a new era of economic, security and environmental partnership between our two nations. To enable this partnership the UK will provide a package of financial support to Mauritius.  This will include an indexed annual payment for the duration of the agreement and the establishment of a transformational infrastructure partnership, underpinned by UK grant funding, to deliver strategic projects generating meaningful change for ordinary Mauritians and boosting economic development across the country.  More broadly, the UK and Mauritius will cooperate on environmental protection, maritime security, combating illegal fishing, irregular migration and drug and people trafficking within the Chagos Archipelago, with the shared objective of securing and protecting one of the world’s most important marine environments.  This will include the establishment of a Mauritian Marine Protected Area.

In resolving all outstanding issues between the United Kingdom and Mauritius, the treaty will open a new chapter in our shared history, one which will continue to be based on mutual respect and trust as close Commonwealth partners committed to the security and prosperity of the Indian Ocean Region.  In reaching today’s political agreement, we have enjoyed the full support and assistance of our close partners, the United States of America and the Republic of India.’

The Chagos Islands have been British since 1814. Before then they were a French possession, prior to which they were uninhabited. The French had imported some slaves and these were set free by the British. Their descendants remained until they were transferred elsewhere upon the fall of the British Empire. There were only 2,000 of them. Britain retained the Chagos Islands, which had been administered by the British from Mauritius. Mauritius was paid £3 million upon independence as a settlement of any claim on the Chagos Islands in 1968. The 2,000 Chagossians mainly settled in Mauritius or the Seychelles. More recently, many have moved to England.

The Chagos Islands include Diego Garcia, where there has been built a major military base, which is leased to the USA.

Since independence, Mauritius has been run by left wing parties such as the Mauritian Socialist party and the even more extreme Mauritian Militant Movement. In their attempt to grab sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, Mauritian politicians have taken an anti-colonialist line and exploited anti-West institutions, especially the UN. The International Court of Justice issued an advisory judgement in 2019 that Britain ‘has an obligation to end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible’. In 2021, the United Nations International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea announced that the UK had ‘no sovereignty over the Chagos Islands’.

Once again, the international institutions, in particular the UN, have shown themselves to be unfit for purpose. Mauritius is peddling a bogus claim. It was paid £3 million in settlement back in 1968, it has never had sovereignty, and is 1,300 miles away and a part of Africa. It is further an ally of China.

The joint UK/Mauritius statement reveals the agreement to gift the islands to Mauritius, and for the UK to fund a resettlement of Chagossians to the islands, to include a ‘trust fund’, and to pay for a 99 year lease, and to give money to Mauritius for its own use, including an index-linked annual payment. This is described as a partnership.

The remark that UK is to ‘address the wrongs of the past’ is race war politics. The Labour government are clearly intentionally bouncing the UK into this sell out.

A spokesman for Friends of the British Overseas Territories said: ‘We will be paying millions, if not billions, to lease back our own island for 99 years. [The Government] should reconsider the deal urgently and make clear that there will be no further negotiation on the Chagos Islands, or any other UK Overseas Territory.’

The Times said: ‘In a dangerous world Britain’s security is being risked by ministers and departmental lawyers who believe appeasing faux anti-colonialist sentiment in the UN matters more than the national interest.’

In a subsequent statement to the House of Commons, the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy was contemptuous of Tory criticism:

‘It takes some brass neck to criticise this Government for delivering what the last Government tried and failed to do. It was the last Government that opened these negotiations in the first place, because they understood what was at risk. They went through 11 rounds of negotiations and resolved nothing. … The reality is that those who do not support the agreement support either abandoning the base or breaking international law.’

Lammy regarded the matter as ‘a sore that has run through our relations with Mauritius, but also with substantial parts of the global south’. Further: ‘We found ourselves with no one supporting our claim in the family of the UN and the rules-based order. For that reason, the previous Government began the negotiations and it is absolutely right that we conclude them.’

Contrary to what the UK’s ruling class might think, British sovereignty over British territory is not subject to permission from a globalist elite – including lawyers, judges and other assorted self-aggrandising fat cats. International law is a concoction that does not exist. Screw international law. It is notable that the UK’s supposed soft power in the global south is a delusion.

Any country which makes a territorial claim or monetary claim against the UK is, by definition, an enemy and should be treated as such.

The Chagos sell out is an act of treason, perpetrated by traitors. They have conspired with the UK’s enemies to enable a foreign state to take over British sovereign territory. The episode is also a perfect example of declinism: a belief or policy that the best the UK can expect, or deserves, is the orderly management of decline. The Tories believed that giving away the British Indian Ocean Territory was inevitable, and so they simply went along with the drift. For Labour, there was an element of malice. They positively relished the opportunity to damage the UK and the British people.