Britain Returns Last African Colony To Mauritius – OpEd

By J Nastranis

After thirteen rounds of talks initiated in 2022, Britain has agreed to hand over the Chagos Islands—its last African colony—to Mauritius. The decision comes in the third year of the Fourth International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism (2021-2030).

However, the former colonial power retains control of the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, an atoll of the Chagos Archipelago in the “British Indian Ocean Territory”, located 7 degrees south of the equator.

The UK Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, said the UK government had secured the future of the military base “as well as guaranteeing our long-term relationship with Mauritius, a close Commonwealth partner”.

US Navy Support Facility Diego Garcia provides logistic support to operational forces forward deployed to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf areas of responsibility in support of national policy objectives.

Mauritian calls for sovereignty were recognized by theInternational Court of Justice(ICJ) and the UN General Assembly in 2019 and 2021.

The ICJ, also known as the world court, is the principal judicial organ of the UN which adjudicates disputes between nations. However, Britain had initially dismissed UN rulings and court judgements demanding it return the islands to Mauritius, arguing that the ICJ ruling was merely an advisory opinion.

Before conceding independence to Mauritius in 1968, Britain unlawfully separated it to form a new colony on the Chagos archipelago named the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).

In splitting the islands from Mauritius, the UK expelled between 1,500 and 2,000 islanders so that it could lease Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos islands, to the United States for military use which the two allies have since operated jointly.

Britain falsely declared that Chagos had no permanent population so that it would not have to report its colonial rule to the UN. In reality, the Chagossian community had lived on Chagos for centuries.

The UK and US governments forcibly displaced the Chagossian population between 1967 and 1973 not only reportedly on Diego Garcia, but also Peros Banhos and Salomon.

Chagossians frustrated

The campaign challenging British ownership of the Chagos archipelago included the Mauritian ambassador to the UN, Jagdish Koonjul, raising his country’s flag above the atoll of Peros Banhos in a ceremony in February 2022 to mark the first time Mauritius had led an expedition to the territory since the expulsions.

The agreement on October 3 has left many Chagossians frustrated because they were not consulted during the negotiations.Chagossian Voices, a community organisation for Chagossians based in the UK and several other countries where islanders have settled, deplored “the exclusion of the Chagossian community from the negotiations”, leaving them “powerless and voiceless in determining our own future and the future of our homeland”.

“The view of Chagossians, the Indigenous inhabitants of the islands, have been consistently and deliberately ignored and we demand full inclusion in the drafting of the treaty,” they added.

Decolonization process

United Nations played a crucial role in the decolonization process, In 1960, the world organization adopted its landmarkDeclaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples. The Declaration affirmed the right of all people to self-determination and proclaimed that colonialism should be brought to a speedy and unconditional end. Two years later, aSpecial Committee on Decolonizationwas established to monitor its implementation.

In 1990, the Assembly proclaimed theInternational Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism(1990-2000), which included a specificplan of action. A Second International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism followed in 2001. The end of the Second Decade coincided with the fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples.

At the same time, the General Assembly declared the period 2011–2020 the Third International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism. In 2020, the General Assembly adopted resolution75/123declaring the period 2021-2030 the Fourth International Decade for the Eradication of Colonialism.

Since the creation of the United Nations,80 former colonieshave gained their independence. This includes all 11 Trust Territories, which have achieved self-determination through independence or free association with an independent State. The Special Committee continues to monitor the situation in the remaining 17 territories, working to facilitate achieving their decolonization