Mauritian foreign minister, UK special envoy react to Chagos Islands deal

The British govt’s settlement to hand sovereignty of the prolonged-contested Chagos Islands to Mauritius addresses a “historic wrong,” the Mauritian foreign minister acknowledged Thursday, referring to the displacement of more than a thousand islanders some 50 years ago.

Talking on Sky Files, Maneesh Gobin praised the deal as historic.

“It augurs well for the two sovereign nations signatory to today’s joint political statement,” he acknowledged.

As segment of the deal, the U.Okay. will sustain sovereignty of Diego Garcia, dwelling to the largest U.S.-U.Okay. military deplorable, for an preliminary length of Ninety 9 years, and will pay Mauritius an undisclosed rent.

It goes to moreover form a “resettlement” fund for displaced Chagossians geared toward letting them sprint back to the islands various than Diego Garcia.

Jonathan Powell, UK Special Envoy for the Chagossian Islands, told Sky Files in a separate interview that Mauritius would maintain attend a watch on of the fund.

The Chagos Islands, which conjure up photographs of paradise with their lush vegetation and prolonged stretches of white sandy seashores, were on the heart of what Britain has referred to as the British Indian Ocean Territory since 1965 after they were siphoned away from Mauritius, a extinct U.Okay. colony that gained independence three years later. Mauritius, which lies east of Madagascar in southern Africa, is around 2,100 kilometers (1,250 miles) southwest of the Chagos Islands.

Following a hire settlement with Britain, the U.S. constructed the naval deplorable at Diego Garcia for defense capabilities in the Seventies. The U.S. has described the deplorable as “an all but vital platform” for security operations in the Center East, South Asia and East Africa.

Round 1,500 inhabitants from the Chagos Islands were displaced to win manner for the U.S. deplorable, in what Human Rights Peep acknowledged last year amounted to “crimes in opposition to humanity dedicated by a colonial energy in opposition to an indigenous of us.”

In an announcement, the White House acknowledged President Joe Biden applauded the “historic settlement” on the pickle of the Chagos Islands.

Extra sources • AP