Britain’s new government should resume Chagos Islands negotiations

The Guardian

5 July 2024 at 11:50 am·1-min read

<span>Protesters from the Chagos Islands rally in Parliament Square, London, in 2021.</span><span>Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Alamy</span> — Protesters from the Chagos Islands rally in Parliament Square, London, in 2021.Photograph: Vuk Valcic/Alamy

Peri Batliwala makes a powerful case for the new government to bring an end to the 55-year exile of the Chagossians (Letters, 25 June). The UK/Mauritius negotiations on a settlement of the issues concerning the Chagos Islands and their former inhabitants, announced in November 2022, will no doubt be resumed. It is high time that provision was made for resettlement of the territory and its return to Mauritian sovereignty.

In a speech last July to the Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law, David Lammy, the then shadow foreign secretary, called for “a new settlement that brings the UK into compliance with international law, redresses the historical injustices done to the Chagossians … and meets strategic security concerns”.
David Snoxell
Former British high commissioner to Mauritius

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