Will the new British government give priority to concluding the Chagos negotiations?
Mauritius-UK dispute
By David Snoxell
My interview with Mauritius Times on 2 February maintained that the UK/Mauritius negotiations were continuing and discussed the outstanding issues to be resolved. Following its success in the UK general election on 4 July, the new Labour government will almost certainly resume, with renewed determination, the UK/Mauritius negotiations which have dragged on since they were announced on 3 November 2022.
Mauritius-UK dispute. Pic – The Telegraph
Historical background
Although the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) was created in 1965 and the Chagossians expelled between 1968-73 the international community, UK Parliament and the public remained largely unaware of the full extent of what had happened until details emerged in the late 1990s with the release of Government files to the National Archives. This led to the first court case in a long series of litigation that progressively laid bare the full story and a tangled web of deception. Known as the Bancoult litigation, these cases have provided much insight into the secretive nature of what occurred between 1965 and 1973 and the foundation for recent litigation in international courts and tribunals.
A blanket coverup had deceived officials and ministers, Parliament, the public and the UN into believing that the population were contract workers from Mauritius and Seychelles and that Chagos was a legitimate albeit new overseas territory under British sovereignty, renamed the British Indian Ocean Territory.
Over the decades Chagos has evolved from a little-known bilateral dispute to a high profile and international issue affecting the UK’s standing and reputation. It has been a millstone round the neck of British diplomacy for too long. There have been 25 British governments since 1965 which have failed to deal with Chagos issues.
If Chagos had not been detached from Mauritius in 1965
Where would the Chagos Archipelago and its people be today if the UK had not detached the islands from Mauritius, 3 years before independence? The answer is obvious: Chagos would have continued to remain an integral part of Mauritius and many of the people would still be living there today. As with Rodrigues, Chagos would likely have had a measure of devolved self-government, an Executive and elected Assembly. The current UK/Mauritius negotiations hold out a similar prospect.
Labour policy
On 10 July 2023 the shadow Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, committed Labour to a resolution of the issues in a speech at the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law. He said:
“For years the government ignored the opinions of the ICJ, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea and the UN General Assembly about the Chagos Islands. Only belatedly has the government sought what we have called for: a new settlement that brings the UK into compliance with international law, redresses the historical injustices done to the Chagossians, maintains the marine protected environment, and meets strategic security concerns.”
I expect the new Labour Foreign Secretary to give priority to concluding a settlement with Mauritius, preferably before the second anniversary of the announcement of the negotiations and before the US presidential election on 5 November. Whilst the Biden Administration has supported the UK/Mauritius negotiations, a Trump presidency may be less favourable.
November also marks other notable anniversaries: the 59th anniversary of the creation of the British Indian Ocean Territory (8 November 1965); the 24th anniversary of the High Court judgment allowing the Chagossians to return to the Outer Islands (3 November 2000); and the 5th anniversary of the UN General Assembly deadline for the UK to implement the ICJ Advisory Opinion by 22 November 2019.
Chagos Islands APPG
The Chagos Islands (BIOT) All-Party Parliamentary Group is likely to be re-established after the State Opening of Parliament on 17 July. Although Parliament is due to go into the summer recess from 23 July there is a possibility that the session will be extended to enable the new government to address the many issues it faces. Three of the APPG members are former shadow foreign affairs and international development ministers with considerable experience and may also become members of the government. It is likely that a Labour chair will be elected as the previous Conservative chairman, Henry Smith did not stand for re-election as an MP. I would expect the APPG to press the government to conclude an agreement expeditiously, which will provide for Chagossian resettlement and return of the Islands to Mauritian sovereignty.
A final settlement
The agreement could be finalised as a treaty and registered with the UN. It would be appropriate for it to be signed by the Prime Minister of Mauritius and the UK Foreign secretary during the next session, beginning in September of the UN General Assembly, in accordance with several resolutions that the UNGA has adopted on Chagos and the Chagossians since 1965.
Concluding a final settlement after 59 years would be a major foreign and defence policy achievement for the new government. It would provide long-term security for the UK/US base on Diego Garcia and strengthen future cooperation in the Indian Ocean between the UK, US, Mauritius, India, France and Australia, providing a united counterforce to potential Chinese influence and activity; and it would demonstrate the “spirit of international cooperation, dialogue and compromise” as proclaimed in the UK’s 2021 Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy. It goes without saying that compromise will need to be exercised by both parties in these complicated negotiations particularly concerning the defence, protection and security aspects of the joint base.
It would also signal the new British government’s support for the rule of law and re-establish the UK’s international reputation as a country which respects human rights, self-determination, territorial integrity, the UN, and international courts. For the UK, an architect of those courts, notably the ICJ, the UN Charter and UN institutions, a negotiated settlement to this continuing dispute and human tragedy is the only way to bring an end to this relic of Britian’s colonial past.
David Snoxell has been Coordinator of the Chagos Islands (BIOT) APPG since 2008. He was British High Commissioner to Mauritius, 2000-04, and Deputy Commissioner of the BIOT, 1995-7
Mauritius Times ePaper Friday 5 July 2024
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