evidence: Today, it is continuing a dispute about a set of them in the middle of the Indian Ocean, known as the Chagos Archipelago. Formally the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), the archipelago was administered from Mauritius in the days of empire and was detached in the lead-up to Port Louis’ independence from London in 1968. The Chagos Archipelago contains Diego Garcia, now home to a strategically positioned US military base, whose existence was made possible by the forced deportation of those living there, the Chagossians. [...] This 2019 opinion states that the United Kingdom had no authority to sever the archipelago from Mauritius, and thus control over it should be ceded from London to Port Louis. Despite this ruling, however, the United Kingdom has been reluctant to act on its obligations as laid out by the ICJ. [...] The plight of the Chagossians who were forced from their homes in the 1960s is undeniable, but in the negotiations between Port Louis and London, Chagossian voices have been routinely excluded. The issue is also an important one in domestic Mauritian politics, which apart from 2003 to 2005 has had its prime ministers come from two generations of two families. It was Mauritius’ first prime minister, Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, who agreed that the Chagos be separated from Mauritius in 1965 in exchange for compensation – a decision for which he was occasionally accused of betrayal, with some of the money never reaching its intended beneficiaries.