| Chagos Archipelago (formerly the Oil Islands, now governed as the British Indian Ocean Territory) - In 1965, Britain isolated the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius, and the islands of Aldabra, Farquhar and Desroches from the Seychelles, and this entire group of Pacific islands became the British Indian Ocean Territory, an overseas territory which the UK had planned to use for joint UK-US military bases and activities. All private property was purchased on the Chagos islands during 1966, and the entire population (known as the Chagossians, or Ilois) of Diego Garcia - the largest and most habitable island in the Chagos group - were forcefully relocated to Mauritius. The Seychelles' islands were then returned in 1976, and since then, the British Indian Ocean Territory has comprised only of the Chagos Archipelago. Deigo Garcia is now the home to a huge US military base, which they secured a lease for, from the British, for agreeing to sell them Polaris nuclear weapons at a discounted price. The former Deigo Garcia islanders, who now live in Mauritius and the Seychelles, continue to fight to get their homeland back, and have won some landmark cases in the UK's High Court, with UK£14.5million received in post-2000 payouts, but the Chagossians continue to be excluded from their islands through a British government 'royal prerogative', and constant law challenges from the government to keep it in place. The UK has said that it will cede the island group to Mauritius when it ceases to be used for military purposes, but this looks unlikely in the near future, with the US having a long-term lease in place. Mauritius claims the islands were taken illegally from them in 1965, and they claim full sovereignty over them, and the Seychelles claims sovereignty over some of the islands. |
