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The Chagos Archipelago, colloquially known as the Chagos Islands (previously known by the name – Bassas de Chagas and further by the Oil Islands), is a cluster of seven atolls. It includes a count of 60 islands and even more, located in the Indian Ocean. It stretches around 310 miles/500 kilometres (south of the Maldives archipelago).

Since the 18th century, as per Mauritius, it considers the Chagos Islands to be a segment of its territory, until the time in the year 1965, when United Kingdom took the chagos archipelago away from Mauritius, furthermore the islands of Desroches, Farquhar, Aldabra from the Seychelles in the region with the aim to establish the territory of the British Indian Ocean. Finally, June 1976, saw the regain of independence of Seychelles from the United Kingdom, and the return of the islands of Desroches, Farquhar, Aldabrawere by the UK.

The Heated Dispute – Mauritius Claim The Chagos Islands ?

The United Kingdom in November 1965 declared Chagos archipelago islands as an overseas territory. In 1968, when Mauritius gained freedom from the UK, the United Kingdom dropped the idea to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

As per claims in petitions that had been filed at the Permanent Court of Arbitration it states about the requirement to “accommodate and adjust the United States’ in the island in order to achieve the objective of utilising few specific islands in the Indian Ocean for defence criteria”. Diego Garcia, the biggest island on the Chagos archipelago, is the site of operation of the largest military base amongst the US and the UK. Furthermore, for the US-led attacks in the 2000s against Iraq and Afghanistan, the Chagos islands have been the military base for the US. At the CIAs interrogation site, in September 11, 2001 attacks, the military facility was utilised from here. 

After gaining freedom and independence, the next move of Mauritius was the proposal of allowing the United Kingdom to utilise the Chagos archipelago for their defence tasks in exchange for elevating the sugar imports quota into the United States. The proposal was laid on the foundation to evolve and boost Mauritius’ economy. However the proposal was refused and rejected by the UK on the note that the US could not participate in any other treaty despite utilising the Chagos islands themselves.

The several efforts made by the UK to underpass Mauritius’ objective of filing the issue at the international court as per the statement that it was a bilateral matter.

Revisiting The Sequence- Background of Chagos Islands Dispute

  • The British colony- Mauritius governed the Chagos Archipelago in the 19th century.
  • In 1988, Mauritius enjoyed independence, however the Chagos islands remained still under the influence of the British.
  • This is referred to as BIOT by the U.K. government. The expanded term for BIOT is the British Indian Ocean Territory.
  • The Chagossians led protests and accused London of barring them-  the residents of Chagos islands and also of carving out an “illegal occupation”.
  • In 1968, at the orders of the United States, The United Kingdom, initiated the movement of expelling the inhabitants – Chagossians/ Chagos Islanders (previously known as Ilois) of the Chagos Archipelago island. Forced deportation and Peros Banhos atoll’s evacuation happened on 27 April 1973.
  • After the freed gained by Mauritius, The UK tried to retain the possession of the following-
  • Chagos archipelago islands
  • Diego Garcia- strategic airbase of the US.
  • The retention was the conclusion of giving an amount of more than 4 million pounds for the Chagos islands to Mauritius.
  • The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has issued the statement to the United Kingdom (UK) to give back the island-  Chagos Archipelago back to Mauritius.                 
  • As per the ICJ, it considers the continuation of British occupation of the Chagos archipelago to be illegal.
  • Since the year 1975, Mauritius has made a hefty, and disciplined legal effort to regain the knot of the archipelagos islands to its fold, simply unfolding Mauritius claim the Chagos islands.

Conclusion

The Chagos Archipelago, colloquially known as the Chagos Islands (previously known by the name – Bassas de Chagas and further by the Oil Islands), is a cluster of seven atolls. Mauritius governed the Chagos Archipelago in the 19th century.

In 1988, Mauritius enjoyed independence, however the Chagos islands remained still under the influence of the British.

This is referred to as BIOT by the U.K. government. Since the year 1975, Mauritius has made a hefty, and disciplined legal effort to regain the knot of the archipelagos islands to its fold, simply unfolding Mauritius claim the Chagos islands.