Actually it was covered quite comprehensively on npr's 'all things considered'.
Joe w.
Sent via BlackBerry from Cingular Wireless
-----Original Message-----
From: "CraigGingold" <gingold@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Tue, 29 May 2007 06:30:15
To:Earthfirstalert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Bay_area_activist@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, NewPacifica@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
Freekpfk@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [NewPacifica] Court victory for islanders evicted for US base at Diego
Garcia
(Outside of a really brief mention on Democracy Now, the Post article
below is pretty much all there was in the US media. - CG)
International Herald Tribune
Court of Appeal says British government abused power in blocking
Chagos islanders' return
The Associated Press
Wednesday, May 23, 2007
LONDON: Islanders who were evacuated to make way for the U.S. airbase at Diego
Garcia more than 30 years ago won another round in British court Wednesday,
but
likely face further legal battles to secure their right to return.
Three justices of the Court of Appeal unanimously ruled that the British
government, which agreed seven years ago to allow the islanders to go home,
abused its powers in changing its mind in 2004.
<snip>
Following a court victory by the islanders in 2000, then-Foreign Secretary
Robin
Cook accepted the ruling and said the government would arrange for Chagossians
to
return to the outer islands.
But in June 2004 the government reversed course, using Orders in Council to
forbid anyone from having a right of abode on the islands.
<snip>
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
WASHINGTON POST
Court Rules for Islanders Evicted in U.S. Base Deal
By Mary Jordan
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, May 25, 2007; A15
LONDON, May 24 -- Families forced to leave the Chagos Islands, a British
territory in the Indian Ocean, to make way for a U.S. military base at Diego
Garcia during the Cold War have won a key legal victory in their long struggle
to
return.
The Court of Appeal in London ruled in favor of the islanders Wednesday and
criticized the British government for "abuse of power." All 2,000 or so
inhabitants were evicted from the archipelago in the 1960s and 1970s and have
never been allowed back.
The largest of the 65 islands is Diego Garcia, an atoll where the United
States
operates a large military base under lease from Britain. The base has been
used
to launch bombing missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Under the court decision, the islanders are to be permitted to return to any
of
the islands except Diego Garcia. The British Foreign Office said it had 30
days
to decide whether to file a final appeal to the House of Lords.
In the past, U.S. officials have opposed allowing people to live on any of the
Chagos Islands, arguing that their presence could lead to electronic jamming
and
surveillance of military operations.
Edgar Vasquez, a State Department spokesman, declined Thursday to comment on
the
ruling, calling it "an ongoing legal battle for British courts." Vasquez added
that "Diego Garcia is an important base of operations in maintaining regional
stability and in the war on terror."
In his ruling, appellate judge Stephen Sedley said that "few things are more
important to a social group than its sense of belonging, not only to each
other
but to a place. What has sustained people in exile, from Babylon onwards, has
been the possibility of one day returning home."
Olivier Bancoult, a leader of the islanders in exile, welcomed the victory and
said he planned to move back with his wife and three children. "We have the
right
to live in our birthplace," Bancoult, 43, said in an interview.
He said his family was banished from its homeland when he was 4 years old, in
1968. That year, his family went to Mauritius to get treatment for his
critically
ill sister and then was forbidden to return.
All inhabitants were moved off the islands between 1967 and 1973. Many have
said
they were tricked out of their homes -- encouraged to take what they thought
would be temporary trips and then never allowed back.
At the time, the United States was concerned about the expansion of Soviet
power
and was eager to build a military base in the Indian Ocean. In exchange for
U.S.
use of Diego Garcia, the British military received multimillion-dollar
discounts
on military equipment, according to British news reports.
Bancoult, who came to London for the court hearing, is now an electrician in
the
Indian Ocean nation of Mauritius, where many islanders resettled. He said his
life has been "a struggle" to go back.
"We are the lost group," Bancoult said. "We feel better at home."
Of the 2,000 islanders who were expelled, about 500 are still alive, according
to
the group's attorney, Richard Gifford. Most live in Mauritius, but a sizable
number moved to Britain.
"You won't find a single islander who doesn't want to go back, if only for a
visit," Gifford said. He called their removal "an appalling, planned abuse of
a
population."
Gifford said many of the islands, thick with coconut trees, are uninhabitable.
The two main ones that people would seek to resettle are about 100 miles from
the
U.S. base. He said islanders are not seeking the removal of the base but just
want to coexist as they fish and farm.
"These are picture-book paradise islands," Gifford said.
The issue of who would pay for the resettlement has yet to be addressed.
Repopulating the islands would be difficult unless public transportation
routes
were opened and funds made available for basic needs such as fresh water and
electricity.
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