An overwhelming majority of Chagos islanders, forcibly removed from their homes four decades ago, and their descendants have told Britain that they wish to return to the Indian Ocean archipelago.
The finding that 98 per cent of Chagossians want to resettle their former home will significantly increase the pressure on the Government to put right what critics argue is one of the most shameful episodes in Britain’s recent colonial history.
About 1,500 Chagossians, who along with their offspring are all UK citizens, were removed by 1971 to make way for a new American military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the remote archipelago. In return for clearing the inhabitants to make way for the strategic installation, Britain received a £5m discount from Washington for the Polaris nuclear missile system - a deal which went unpublicised at the time.
Chagossian exiles, who were dispersed to locations from Mauritius to Crawley, West Sussex, have fought a series of legal battles to secure the right to return to the islands. Successive UK governments have in turn deployed measures - from invoking obscure statutory powers to the creation of a huge marine reserve - which have had the effect of preventing any resettlement.
Shameful
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk...-a6830671.html