RANJITH SOYSA

March 8, 2019, 12:00 pm
The UN’s highest court recently ruled that the UK’s claim of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands is illegal. It was stated that the UK’s continued administration of the islands “constitutes a wrongful act entailing the international responsibility of that state”. Mauritius reported to the courts that the UK forced her to give up the territory of Chagos islands in exchange for her rightful claim for Independence from the UK in 1968. The UN court accepted the position of Mauritius and rejected UK’s claims.

The sad story of the people of Chagos Islands began in 1965 when the UK “purchased ” the Islands, and then signed an agreement in 1966 for 50 years with the United States for them to build an airbase in Deo Garcia the largest of the Islands. The onus of getting rid of the inhabitant population fell on the British as per the agreement. In fact the indigenous people who lived for centuries in these islands were treated disdainfully, when the UK high official referred to the ‘acquisition’ as an “exercise was to get some rocks which will remain ours: there will be no indigenous population except sea gulls who have not yet got a committee”. This naked aggression took place in 1960s when there was a compendium of human rights and concept of a civilized world!

In 1968 the British, with covert support of the USA, began the driving away of the islanders who have been living there for centuries. The islanders were threatened with being shot, bombed and gassed. Finally this epic human rights violation of ethnic cleansing resulted in about 5000 islanders moving away and settling down in Mauritius as paupers and homeless. Meantime, Deo Garcia became one of the largest naval bases, being the center for launching attacks in the Middle East by the USA and also being used as operational base for the notorious rendition program. The US government does not want any native people to be resettled in Deo Garcia, as indicated in a diplomatic cable to the UK in 2006.

ICJ order to the UK to hand back the Islands to Mauritius as rapidly as possible was a landmark ruling with the judgment reached with a 13 to 1 majority and obviously the USA voting against. The UK government in its determination to hold on to the airbase rather than considering the just rights of its native people, has rejected both the ICJ’s order and the overwhelming majority ruling. We should now get back to Samantha Power who was hoping Sri Lanka to be a civilized society, to tell us the essence of the story of the Chagos Islands, and why the UK and the US do not want to display their decency when the highest UN court had given a clear order in keeping with the principles of justice.

We get another chance to examine Samantha Power’s insistence on Sri Lanka’s decency, when we consider how the people in Okinawa voted last month to relocate the US Naval base, which many Japanese in Okinawa do consider as a burden on the small islands. They voted for relocation. But, the US will stay put against the majority wish registered at the polls.

Again, we are faced with the dilemma of the Western mindset.

“The ides of March, Yes but they are not gone”

RANJITH SOYSA