Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago and site of a major United States military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean leased from Britain in 1966. (Reuters)
The Chagos Islands is being unlawfully occupied by the United Kingdom, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled on Monday.
The court said the UK should now cede control of its last African colony. “It is an unlawful act of a continuing character,” the court said.
Chief judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf added: “The United Kingdom is under an obligation to bring an end to its administration of the Chagos Archipelago as rapidly as possible, thereby allowing Mauritius to complete the decolonisation of its territory.”
The ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations’ highest court, is not binding.
It is an advisory opinion sought by the UN General Assembly. Nonetheless, the ruling carries symbolic weight — although that may not be enough to force Britain’s hand, given the Chagos Islands’ immense geostrategic importance and the American military base which is hosted there.
The Chagos Islands were officially part of Mauritius when that island nation achieved its independence in 1968. But Britain unilaterally annexed the Chagos Islands because of their immense geostrategic value. The islands are ideally positioned in the middle of the Indian Ocean, and the United States has operated a military base there since the late 1960s — paying Britain only a minimal rent to do so. That lease runs until the 1930s.
To make way for the military base, the United Kingdom forcibly removed all Chagos Islanders from their home. Many were shipped in squalid conditions to Mauritius, where they were dumped with no support. Some who resisted their removal had their pet dogs gassed to death by British agents as a warning.
Last year, the British government threatened to deport the descendants of Chagos Islanders who had made it to Britain, as part of Prime Minister Theresa May’s infamous ‘hostile environment’ policy, which is designed to make life in the UK as difficult as possible for immigrants.
In theory, the ICJ ruling paves the way for Mauritius to take control of the islands. Its claim of sovereignty is supported by the African Union and 17 other nations, including: Mauritius, which argues that the Chagos Islands should fall under its sovereignty.
Seventeen other nations support Mauritius’ claim of sovereignty: Belize, Botswana, Brazil, Cyprus, Germany, Guatemala, India, Kenya, the Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Serbia, South Africa, Thailand, Vanuatu and Zambia.
But Chagos Islanders themselves are not so sure that Mauritius is necessarily a better option. As the Mail & Guardian reported in September last year, while the community broadly rejects continued British hegemony, many are equally uncertain about the prospect of being ruled by Mauritius, who could turn out to be just a different style of colonial power.
“No one did approach us as a community to ask what we want. We don’t know what Mauritius is going to do. They say they will resettle us back but the base is still going to be there, they don’t mind about that, and the Americans don’t want us there, so there are contradictions in that,” Isabel Charlot, the chairperson of the Chagos Islanders Movement, whose father was born on Chagos.
She was concerned that that Mauritius intends to develop the islands for its own benefit, and that its promises to resettle islanders are insincere.
The ICJ ruling has not allayed those concerns, Charlot said. “We did believe that today it would have been about the Chagossians. We did hope that the judges would have used their wisdom and knowledge to safeguard the best interests of the Chagossians…for once it would have been about us but it was political.”Isabel Charlot, whose father was born on Chagos told media. She is concerned that that Mauritius intends to develop the islands for its own benefit, and that its promises to resettle islanders are insincere.
Timothy Walker, a maritime security expert with the Institute for Security Studies, said that the ICJ ruling represents a serious blow for Britain’s foreign policy. “The UK’s standing in international relations has already been undergoing a huge amount of criticism and pressure in the last couple of years, and this will add to it in a dimension which is now becoming one of the most important in the world — sovereignty over maritime territory.”
Diego Garcia ni kisiwa kikubwa zaidi katika visiwa vya Chagos na ni kituo kikuu cha kijeshi cha Marekani katikati ya Bahari ya Hindi, kilichokodishwa kutoka Uingereza mwaka 1966. Visiwa vya Chagos vimekamatwa na Uingereza, Mahakama ya Kimataifa ya Haki (ICJ) imesema Jumatatu. Mahakama hiyo imesema Uingereza inapaswa kutoa udhibiti wa koloni yake ya mwisho ya Afrika. "Ni kitendo kinyume cha sheria cha tabia ya kuendelea", mahakama ilisema. "Muhakimu mkuu wa mahakama hiyo Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf amesema: ""Uingereza ina wajibu wa kukomesha utawala wake wa visiwa vya Chagos haraka iwezekanavyo, na hivyo kuruhusu Mauritius kukamilisha ukombozi wa eneo lake,"" alisema." Ni maoni ya ushauri yaliyotafutwa na Mkutano Mkuu wa Umoja wa Mataifa. Hata hivyo, uamuzi huo una uzito wa mfano - ingawa hiyo inaweza kuwa haitoshi kulazimisha mkono wa Uingereza, ikizingatiwa umuhimu mkubwa wa kijiografia wa Visiwa vya Chagos na kituo cha kijeshi cha Marekani ambacho kinapatikana huko. Visiwa vya Chagos vilikuwa sehemu ya Mauritius wakati taifa hilo lilipopata uhuru wake mwaka 1968. Lakini Uingereza ilichukua Visiwa vya Chagos kwa sababu ya thamani yao kubwa ya kijiografia. Visiwa hivyo viko katikati ya Bahari ya Hindi, na Marekani imekuwa ikiendesha kituo cha kijeshi huko tangu mwishoni mwa miaka ya 1960 - ikilipa Uingereza kodi ndogo tu kufanya hivyo. Mkataba wa kukodisha unatumika hadi miaka ya 1930. Ili kufungua njia kwa ajili ya kituo hicho cha kijeshi, Uingereza iliwaondoa kwa nguvu wakazi wote wa Visiwa vya Chagos kutoka nyumbani kwao. Wengi walipelekwa Mauritius wakiwa katika hali mbaya sana, ambako walitupwa bila msaada wowote. Baadhi ya wale waliopinga kuondolewa kwao waliuawa kwa kutumia gesi na mawakala wa Uingereza kama onyo. Serikali ya Uingereza imehatarisha kuwafukuza watakaotoka visiwani vya Chagos ambao walifika Uingereza mwaka jana, kama sehemu ya sera ya waziri mkuu Theresa May ya'mazingira ya uhasama'ambayo imekusudiwa kufanya maisha nchini Uingereza kuwa magumu kwa wahamiaji. Kwa maoni yake, uamuzi wa Mahakama ya Kimataifa ya Haki za Binadamu (ICJ) unafungua njia kwa Mauritius kuchukua udhibiti wa visiwa hivyo. Mkataba huo unaungwa mkono na Umoja wa Afrika na mataifa mengine 17 na Mauritius, ambayo inadai kwamba visiwa vya Chagos vinapaswa kuwa chini ya uhuru wake. Mataifa mengine 17 yanaunga mkono madai ya uhuru wa Mauritius: Belize, Botswana, Brazil, Cyprus, Ujerumani, Guatemala, India, Kenya, Visiwa vya Marshall, Mauritius, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Serbia, Afrika Kusini, Thailand, Vanuatu na Zambia. Lakini wakazi wa Visiwa vya Chagos wenyewe hawajui kwamba Mauritius ni chaguo bora zaidi. "Kama ilivyoripotiwa na gazeti la ""Mail & Guardian"" Septemba mwaka jana, wakati jamii hiyo inakataa kwa ujumla kuendelea na utawala wa Uingereza, wengi hawana uhakika kuhusu uwezekano wa kutawaliwa na Mauritius, ambayo inaweza kugeuka kuwa mtindo tofauti wa nguvu ya kikoloni." <unk>Hakuna mtu aliyetukaribia kama jamii kuuliza tunataka nini. Hatujui Mauritius itafanya nini. "Wanasema watatuhamisha lakini kituo hicho kitakuwapo, hawajali kuhusu hilo, na Wamarekani hawataki tuwe huko, kwa hivyo kuna utata katika hilo, ""alisema Isabel Charlot, mwenyekiti wa Chama cha Wakazi wa Visiwa vya Chagos, ambaye baba yake alizaliwa Chagos." "Mwanamke huyo amesema kuwa Mauritius ina nia ya kuendeleza visiwa hivyo kwa faida yake na kwamba ahadi zake za kuwahamisha watu wa visiwa hivyo hazina uaminifu.""" Uamuzi wa ICJ haujatatua wasiwasi huo, Charlot alisema. <unk>Tulidhani kwamba leo ingekuwa kuhusu Chagossians. """Tuliwatumaini waamuzi kutumia hekima na maarifa yao kulinda maslahi bora ya watu wa Chagossi, kwa mara moja ingekuwa juu yetu, lakini ilikuwa ya kisiasa,"" alisema Isabel Charlot, ambaye baba yake alizaliwa katika Chagos." "Mwanamke huyo amesema kuwa Mauritius ina nia ya kuendeleza visiwa hivyo kwa faida yake na kwamba ahadi zake za kuwahamisha watu wa visiwa hivyo hazina uaminifu.""" Timothy Walker, mtaalamu wa usalama wa baharini katika Taasisi ya Mafunzo ya Usalama, alisema uamuzi wa ICJ unawakilisha pigo kubwa kwa sera ya kigeni ya Uingereza. "Usaidizi wa Uingereza katika mahusiano ya kimataifa umekuwa ukikabiliwa na upinzani na shinikizo kubwa katika miaka michache iliyopita, na hii itaongeza kwa kipimo ambacho sasa kinakuwa moja ya muhimu zaidi ulimwenguni ""utawala juu ya eneo la baharini."