(Diego Garcia) Indian Ocean Islanders Take On a Superpower

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

"The island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean is located perfectly from a strategic point of view. But when the US military adopted it as a military base in the 1960s and 70s, it was inconveniently populated. The natives were driven out -- but now, they want their home back.

(...)

The story begins in the 1960s, when the English -- then as now led by Queen Elizabeth II -- depopulated the islands. The Chagossians were starved out, pets were gassed before the eyes of the islands' children, and finally, the islanders were loaded onto freighters and shipped off to the Seychelles and Mauritius.

The emptied islands didn't remain empty for long, though. For $14 million -- paid indirectly in the form of a discount on Polaris rockets purchased by Great Britain from the United States -- America leased the largest island in the archipelago in 1966. Diego Garcia soon became one of the US's most important military bases the world over.

(...)

In June 2004, the Americans made it clear that they intend to neither leave Diego Garcia nor tolerate any expatriate locals on the neighboring islands, claiming that they could "set up jamming transmitters and obstruct important military missions." The British Foreign Office, for its part, urged Queen Elizabeth II to issue a rare "Order in Council," an order made possible under the rules of the revised constitution that invalidates all previous court rulings while circumventing the British parliament. In doing so, the Queen appears to have banned the Chagossians from their native islands once and for all.

(...)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/08/international/europe/05spiegel.html

(...)

Lawyers for the islanders say their human rights were violated.

The lawyers have asked the High Court to declare the government order "invalid and of no effect".

The legal action has been brought by Louis Bancoult, who was evacuated from the islands as a boy.

(...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4502788.stm

(bloody 4-para rule!)

John Pilger made a great documentary about this last year called "Stealing a Nation", which you can download here:
http://www.indybay.org/uploads/stealing_a_nation.rm

Here's a series of BBC stories from last year:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2004/10/1698639.php

Finally, FWIW, there's also been some speculation that the US has detention facilities on Diego Garcia:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/org/news/2005/050702-island-torture.htm

[Squatch]

1. Give it 20 years...

with rising sea levels, there' won't be much left.

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

2. kick