A group of Chagos islanders has landed on the archipelago to establish a permanent settlement, more than 50 years after the population was evicted from the British colony.
The landing party, four strong, defied a British government exclusion zone to set foot on Île du Coin, part of the coral atoll of Peros Banhos, on Monday morning.
They were led by Misley Mandarin, First Minister of what was the Chagossian government in exile.
Standing on the beach and looking back out at the Indian Ocean, he said that hundreds more Chagossians would soon follow. “Time is critical for us,” he said.
He wanted to make it possible for the 322 people who were born on the island and who are still living today to come home before they die.
Accompanying the islanders is Adam Holloway, a former Member of Parliament, who helped the Chagossians raise funds for their new settlement, and who devised the plan for their return and the permanent settlement.
Mr Holloway, a former Army officer and ITN reporter, remains on the island to help build the settlement.
He said the deal to surrender the islands was “completely crazy” – it was “insanity” to give billions “to corrupt politicians in Mauritius rather than paying for our own defence”.
He hoped that the return of the Chagossians – which he had helped to bring about — would give the Labour government pause.
“We’ve done this because Britain is about to make a catastrophically stupid mistake. We are now in a world of great power play. The base at Diego Garcia is absolutely critical to the security of the West”.
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