Ewen MacAskill, diplomatic editor Tuesday October 9, 2001 The Guardian
Diego Garcia, the secretive US base used by B-52 and Stealth bombers in Sunday night's attacks on Afghanistan, is at the centre of a new tug of war between the Foreign Office and islanders illegally evicted 30 years ago. The islanders, who won the right to return at a London high court hearing last year, planned to go home for the first time in 30 years on November 3. But the Foreign Office last week blocked the emotional voyage.
Britain is in a dilemma, having leased Diego Garcia to the US on the basis that the area was uninhabited but now finding itself with a moral duty to the displaced islanders.
More than 4,000 American sailors and contractors live on Diego Garcia. The weather is consistently clear and the lagoon provides deep water facilities.
The high court ruled last November that the islanders were entitled to return to the islands. The Foreign Office promised at the time to make amends but has since been dragging its feet, insisting that detailed feasibility studies be carried out first.
The US is vehemently opposed to their return, claiming repopulation could open the way for spying.
The islanders, tired of waiting, chartered a ship to take them back to their home.
But Louise Savill, an administrator with the British Indian Ocean territory administration, which is part of the Foreign Office, wrote to them last week saying: "I thought I should let you know that Her Majesty's government will not be in a position to facilitate a visit at that time.
"The security situation in the region precludes this. Nevertheless, I can reassure you that we continue to give your general request to facilitate a visit careful consideration, without any commitment to fund such a visit."
The islanders, who were cheated by the British government out of their land in the 1960s and forced into exile in Mauritius, intend returning to Peros Banhos and Salomon, part of the Chagos islands. Diego Garcia is also part of that chain.
The Foreign Office, having lost the court case last year, immediately introduced an order banning the islanders from Diego Garcia but allowing them access to other islands.
Richard Gifford, the London lawyer representing the islanders, said that they will have to take further court action.
He described the Foreign Office's lack of urgency as "a wholly inadequate response".
He said there was now no possibility of a trip until April or May because there were cyclones round Mauritius during the winter months.
About 5,550 islanders, many of them unhappy with life on Mauritius, where they claim they have been treated as second-class citizens, have said they want to return.
The voyage was intended only as a reconnaissance and to pay respects at the graves of their relatives, and they planned to stay only one night aboard the ship.
They believe legal action is needed not just to secure compensation for the past injustice but to win the right to use Diego Garcia.
Ideally, the islanders would like to have occasional use of the landing strip, to provide access to the outside world and possibly as a transit point for tourists.
Mr Gifford has written to the foreign secretary, Jack Straw, contesting the nature of the feasibility study, which he said looks only at the water supply rather than such issues as use of the Diego Garcia landing strip.