Dear Editor,
I read with interest your article in yesterday’s SN `Guyana among 116 countries at UN calling for Britain to give up control over Chagos Islands’ in relation to the recent UN vote calling on the UK to cede sovereignty of these islands, which have been British for over two hundred years, to Mauritius; which is actually some 1,150 nautical miles away from Diego Garcia.
Interestingly, in a televised interview [Channel 4 News, UK , 23rd of May 2019] The President Of The Chagos Islands Council said Chagossians, living in the UK, would prefer that The Chagos Archipelago remains a British Overseas Territory. Also, he stated that Chagossians would rather live as UK citizens on Diego Garcia, similar to how citizens on Pitcairn Island live [Pitcairn, Henderson, Ducie and Oeno Islands, are a British Overseas Territory in the southern Pacific Ocean]; rather than be ceded to Mauritius. He discussed how, despite their original displacement by the UK, Mauritius treated the Chagossians appallingly – despite an agreement with the UK to assist them. Furthermore, Mr Vincatassin suggested that Mauritius made the Chagossians surrender their right of return to the Chagos Archipelago and are simply motivated by the ‘rent’ they hope to take off the Americans; or perhaps to ‘give them to India’.
Yours faithfully,
A J Chapman.
UK