Chagos Islands: Why evicted residents cannot return home

Former residents of Chagos Islands, who were removed by the British government to make way for a US airbase in the 1960s and 70s, will not be allowed to return to their home in the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Foreign Office minister Baroness Anelay told MPs the government had decided against resettlement on the grounds of "feasibility, defence and security interests, and the cost to the British taxpayer".

The government also confirmed the UK would allow the US to keep its military base on the largest of the Chagos islands, Diego Garcia.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Ministers have "agonised over the decision for years", says The Guardian, "knowing that the UK government treated the islanders disgracefully but believing it would not be possible to take the land back from the US, given the importance of the military base to the Pentagon".

The British government split the Chagos Islands in 1965 to allow the construction of military bases for the mutual benefit of the United States and the UK, which meant forcibly evicting the island's 2,000 inhabitants.

A 1966 Foreign Office memo described the Chagossians as "some few Tarzans and Man Fridays whose origins are obscure".

The expulsions "have long been regarded as one of the most shameful parts of Britain's modern colonial history", says The Independent.

As many as 1,500 Chagossians, now scattered between the US, the UK and nearby Mauritius, claim the right to return to their homeland.

The Chagos Refugees Group, which is fighting for the right of the islanders to be allowed to return, said it was "disappointed" with the decision.

Campaigner Sabrina Jean told the BBC: "We will continue our fight any way we can by lobbying here in the UK and the US to see what help and support we can have."

Poet Benjamin Zephaniah, who is patron of the UK Chagos Support Association, said: "Once again, the people of the Chagos Islands are met with injustice.

"Sadly today's decision is just another familiar scenario in a long and tragic episode of British foreign policy."