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The
Association's January 2004 newsletter
As
usual, this will be in chronological order and not necessarily in order of
importance.
1.Mark
Curtis (author of “Web of Deceit:
Britain’s Real Role in the World”) kindly gave me some contact phone numbers
for Oxfam, Christian Aid etc. but those organisations don’t have a programme
running in Mauritius at the moment. Phil Bloomer of Oxfam was very sympathetic.
2.We
wrote a letter to Olivier Bancoult and the CRG to congratulate the Chagossians
on their success in the Indian Ocean Island Games.
3.
Helen Hotelier has replaced Karen Sands at PRM European Lobbyists in Brussels
and she was able to arrange meetings between the Chagossian
representatives and members of the European Parliament in Rome. Seven members
have offered support.
4.
The meeting that took place, subsequent to the disastrous court result, between
Olivier (Mauritius), Allan Vincatassin (Crawley), Jeanette Alexis (Seychelles)
and Bill Rammell of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office did NOT go well.
Total lack of sympathy from the F and C.O. who seem totally uncaring of the
misery they have caused.
5.
We are hoping that Allan, Olivier and Jeanette will form a strong alliance and
present a united front to the UK and US governments. An administration in
waiting perhaps?
6.
Incidentally, we received many e-mails and messages of sympathy after the court
case : can everyone be encouraged to keep mailing the Prime Minister, Foreign
Secretary, their MPs etc? There are some helpful contact details on the web
site.
7.
We are now in contact with the Seychelles Chagossians and their leader, Jeanette
Alexis. I have also been corresponding with Pierre Prosper who lives there and
whose father was an administrator on Peros Banhos – Pierre was born there.
8.
On 13 November a commemorative stele was unveiled to mark the
arrival of the Chagossians on Mauritius. This was attended by the Mauritian
Prime Minister.
9.
Robert Bain, a journalist in the Bahamas, has done a wonderful job on our
web-site and we are most grateful to him. He also wrote an excellent article
about the Chagossian situation for his paper.
10.
Paul Foot wrote an article for Private Eye about the Chagos situation in
November. We need all the coverage we can get to make people aware of the
situation.
11.
At the beginning of December I was contacted by the Mayor of London’s Office
regarding Chagossians in London. I would like to make contact, please, directly
with any Chagossian actually living in London. Can anyone help me with that?
Whilst sympathetic to the cause, Ken Livingston is in no position to act unless
he has Chagossians living on his patch.
12.
Two situations similar to that of the Chagossians were in the news in December :
(i)
a group of Inuit in Greenland were trying to legally regain their lands which
had been used by the US for many years for military purposes.
(ii)
An
impoverished community of 5,000 people, who had been forcibly removed from their
diamond-rich territory by British colonial authorities
in South Africa in the 1920s (yes, the 1920s) won the right to nearly a
billion pounds in compensation. Hmmmm.
13.
Sadly, Louis Cheri, resident in Crawley, died unexpectedly. It is sad that he
never saw the land of his birth again and we extend deep sympathy to all his
family and friends.
14.
We were told, via e-mail from the Seychelles, of a Chagossian in distress in
Yorkshire. Sylvia, our secretary, went to her rescue and she is now in Crawley
where she has a job.
15.
We hear the RSPCA are unhappy about the way the Islanders’ animals were so
cruelly destroyed by the powers that be and may become involved with the cause.
16.
A Norwegian student, Steffen, is currently on Mauritius as part of his studies.
We hope that both he and the Chagossians will benefit from this interaction. As
I write, Laura is visiting Seychelles but will soon be returning to the UK.
(Laura is doing postgraduate work over there.)
17.
Pierre Prosper (of the Seychelles) thinks they have not had as much exposure by
the media as the Mauritian Chagossians. We are helping to remedy this by
encouraging them to visit and contribute to our web site and you can visit their
web-site too.
18.
As many of you will have seen, Mark Seddon wrote an article in the Independent
suggesting, strongly, that Diego Garcia is being used for holding prisoners –
as is Guantanamo Bay. 23th.December 2003. Some people are thinking that Saddam
Hussein could well be there. Seems a shame the rightful inhabitants can’t even
visit their ancestors’ graves, doesn’t it?
19.
At the beginning of this year, we received a mailing from an organisation called
LALIT. This proposes sending a shipful of people to Diego Garcia in 2004. These
would include anti-war activists, greenpeace-type activists, Mauritians and
Chagossians. As an Association, we support all Chagossians: some favour
confrontational action and some don’t so, as an official group, we will not be
on the boat BUT individuals can make their own decisions. More information on www.lalitmauritius.com
or email lalitmail@intnet.mu
20.
Olivier was in Mumbai (India) earlier this month for the annual conference of
the World Social Reform.
21.
Tam Dalyell (our patron) decided this month that he will not return to
Parliament after the next election. The current Father of the House will be
sorely missed. He has declared himself “honoured” to stay on as patron. He
adds that he would dearly love to see the Islanders home before he goes six feet
under.
Following
a report in the Sunday Times that Saddam Hussein might possibly be on Diego
Garcia, Tam tabled a question to Tony
Blair to ask if this was the case. However, the Table Office would only permit
him to ask “where is Saddam Hussein?” He
has been such a staunch supporter over the years and so has Jeremy Corbyn. My
own MP, David Borrow, and his staff have always been most helpful to me too.
22.
Allen Vincatassin and the Diego Garcia Island Council are contemplating a name
change as they think the current world situation will prevent resettlement on
Diego Garcia in the near future. They think settling the outer islands is a more
realistic possibility. They want better education for all Chagossians in order
for them to develop their full potential. They need to learn all the skills
necessary for resettlement - tourism,
fishery etc.
23.
A new Oversees Territories Environmental Programme has been drawn up which
involves all the relevant bodies – Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Department
for International Development etc. They will all work together on environmental
management activities for the UK overseas territories. This new initiative could
assist in the setting up of a pilot resettlement programme on the Chagos which
would be the best next step forward prior to permanent resettlement
–infrastructure/communications being funded and put in place.
24.
Basseer Hulkhory of the Ilois Trust has just returned from a lengthy time in
Mauritius. He spent some of it working with the Chagos Refugee Council. He says
the money which came from Comic Relief is running out this year and the CRG will
be embarking on some local fund raising which they did quite successfully last
year. The Trust is hoping to provide some funds for the Seychelles Group.
25.
Fund raising goes on, too, in our Association with members giving talks, selling
things etc. The Quakers have been particularly generous to us. We have no admin
costs at all and all funds go to benefit Chagossians here or abroad. Any funds
and suggestions for fund raising are very welcome.
26.
Richard Gifford (of Sheridans) tells us that an appeal is planned against the
decision of Mr.Justice Ouseley. Permission will be needed from the Court of
Appeal. The legal tem believe there are good grounds for expecting this and, if
so, there will be a full scale appeal later this year.
Good.
Richard
says the MEPs in Brussels are being supportive and he recently received an
e-mail from a Swedish MEP, Mrs. Ulla Sandbaek, who is highly indignant that
BIOT’s fishing revenues (about a million pounds a year) are being collected
and not used for the benefit of the true inhabitants of the British Indian Ocean
Territory. (Chagossians).
Richard
feels the government is using the pending litigation as an excuse for inactivity
when they should be getting on with resettling them. Tam has agreed to try and
establish why there has been no progress with the feasibility study since July
2002.
27.
On March 17th. and 18th. there will be a hearing of the
judicial review brought by thirty Chagossians who arrived at Gatwick and sought
help from West Sussex Council. I’ll quote from Richard’s letter: “This
will be in the Administrative Court in the Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand
and will no doubt be an occasion for press interest. In fact all thirty
Chagossians, having obtained temporary Court Orders and received interim support
in consequence, have all now obtained jobs and moved into private accommodation.
We offered to West Sussex Council to settle the case on the basis that we would
withdraw it if they paid the Chagossians legal costs. They refused to do this
saying that they wished to argue who was responsible as between the Council and
the Government i.e. to make a test case out of the Government’s abject
failures.”
28.
Once again, can we, as an Association, urge you to keep on at your MP, Tony
Blair, Jack Straw etc. We want to know a lot of things: when are the Islanders
going to be allowed to visit Diego Garcia? (The UK government says the Americans
won’t allow it and vice versa!) When are the government going to use the money
from fishing licenses to start resettling the Islanders? (The Falkland Islanders
get the income from licenses to fish their waters.) Don’t let the Foreign and
Commonwealth Office get away with saying “They won the right to return (to the
outer islands) but so far no-one has.” As you know, their infrastructure was
destroyed and they are POOR. Why not remind Tony Blair how similar the
Chagossian situation is to that of white farmers in Zimbabwe ? He was very indignant about Mugabe but OUR government
deprived the Chagossians of THEIR land.
If
you have patiently waded through all this, thank you!
Best
wishes from all the committee,
Celia
Whittaker (Secretary)
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