Mauritius

The people reclaim the Chagos islands

On 14 February the Mauritian ambassador to the UN raised his country’s flag above Peros Banhos, part of the Chagos archipelago north east of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean. Jagdish Koonjul explained: “We are performing the symbolic act of raising the flag as the British have done so many times to establish colonies. We, however, are reclaiming what has always been our own.” In the run up to Mauritian independence in 1968, the UK (Labour) government separated off the Chagos islands and maintained control of them. Between 1967 and 1973, Britain evicted the islands' inhabitants, about a thousand...

Chagos: the struggle continues

Abridged from the website of the Mauritius socialist organisation Lalit In the apparently low-stakes dispute between Mauritius and Maldives over the delimitation of their maritime boundary, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) on 28 January found, on a preliminary issue raised by Maldives, that Britain has no claim on Chagos [islands previously ruled with Mauritius by Britain from which Britain evicted the whole population in 1967-73, to hand them over to the US for a military base]. Not even “a claim”. The judgment thus lands a legal knock-out. Now, unfortunately, the...

UN votes to return Chagos to Mauritius

Rajni Lallah of Lalit leads a protest march On 23 May the United Nations General Assembly voted massively – 116 in favour, 6 against – to get the UK to end its illegal occupation of part of Mauritius, Chagos, including Diego Garcia. This is a significant victory for de-colonisation. The issue of decolonisation of Chagos has finally hit the headlines world-wide in a big way. The reporter from The Guardian, Owen Bowcott, has gradually since 16 November 2016 caused the breach in the black-out that amounted to an international D-Notice that lasted until then. The extent of the victory was...

Chagos: an incomplete decolonisation

This court case, 50 years after the events was “riveting” - unusual for any court case. It was riveting because of the only-just-suppressed rage of many of those speaking in favour of the UN General Assembly resolution calling on the ICJ to give an Advisory Opinion on whether Britain in the 1960s completed the decolonisation of Mauritius, when it excised Chagos from Mauritius, and what the consequences of this incomplete decolonisation are today, including for the resettling by the Mauritian government of the Chagossian people on their home islands. We in LALIT and all our friends, comrades...

Mauritius socialists plan Diego Garcia protest

On Friday 8 December a demonstration in Mauritius calling for the huge US military base in Diego Garcia (in the Indian Ocean) to be shut down, and the archipelago's inhabitants to be allowed to return. On Thursday afternoon, the demonstration was banned. The Chagos archipelago, of which Diego Garcia is part, was ruled by Britain. After Mauritius became independent, Britain bought the archipelago backed and forcibly evicted its inhabitants, between 1968 and 1973, to make way for the US base. The Mauritian socialist organisation Lalit is part of a “Komite Diego” (Diego Garcia Committee), which...

The changing economy and politics of Mauritius

Twenty years ago, the economy of Mauritius was still based on the sugar industry, mainly exporting to Britain under the terms of the Lomé convention. There was also a significant textile industry, with exports to the EU and the USA, and a tourism industry. Then the sugar oligarchy shifted its focus to finance. From 21 sugar factories, Mauritius is down to four (more mechanised) factories. The sugar cane is still there, but the sugar capitalists have shifted to Africa. The financial sector has boomed. Some textile industry remains, but it is declining. The tourism industry has boomed. We have...

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