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British Indian Ocean Territory


Jim Neal
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British Colonialism was something that happened hundreds of years ago, right?  Wrong, apparently!  I discovered this by accident whilst randomly scrolling around Google Maps this evening.

A bit shocking?!

Why has something like this not featured in the news?  Hmmm...

https://www.google.com/maps/@-7.3355073,72.3936168,30788m/data=!3m1!1e3

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Indian_Ocean_Territory

The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) is a British Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom situated in the Indian Ocean halfway between Tanzania and Indonesia. The territory comprises the seven atolls of the Chagos Archipelago with over 1,000 individual islands – many very small – amounting to a total land area of 60 square kilometres (23 sq mi).[2] The largest and most southerly island is Diego Garcia, 27 km2 (10 sq mi), the site of a Joint Military Facility of the United Kingdom and the United States.[5]

The only inhabitants are US and British military personnel and associated contractors, who collectively number around 3,000 (2018 figures).[6] The forced removal of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago occurred between 1968 and 1973. The Chagossians, then numbering about 2,000 people, were expelled by the UK government to Mauritius and Seychelles in order to construct the military base. Today, the exiled Chagossians are still trying to return, saying that the forced expulsion and dispossession was unlawful, but the UK government has repeatedly denied them the right of return.[7][8] The islands are off-limits to Chagossians, casual tourists, and the media.

Since the 1980s, the Government of Mauritius has sought to regain control over the Chagos Archipelago, which was separated from the then British Colony of Mauritius by the UK in 1965 to form the British Indian Ocean Territory. A February 2019 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice called for the islands to be given to Mauritius. Since this, the United Nations General Assembly and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea have reached similar decisions.

Edited by Jim Neal
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2,000 Welsh were displaced to put reservoirs in to feed NW England. Unfortunately with infrastructure protects there will always be some displacement for the greater good. I am proud of the British Empire, what our people achieved for those around the world. If you listen to Desmond Tutu in the early 1990s he spoke so favourably of the British, as allies and protectors who uphold a belief in a better world. 🇬🇧

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19 hours ago, scouser said:

Have a look at diago Garcia, it is British overseas territory, leased to the yanks, as a air base, all native people shipped out,  

Makes you proud to be  British.

Yep that's the subject of my post above.  Unbelievable that it could happen in relatively recent history.

13 hours ago, WalkedUp said:

2,000 Welsh were displaced to put reservoirs in to feed NW England. Unfortunately with infrastructure protects there will always be some displacement for the greater good. I am proud of the British Empire, what our people achieved for those around the world. If you listen to Desmond Tutu in the early 1990s he spoke so favourably of the British, as allies and protectors who uphold a belief in a better world. 🇬🇧

I've got a sneaky feeling the displaced Welsh were better compensated than the Chagossians though?

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19 minutes ago, Jim Neal said:

Yep that's the subject of my post above.  Unbelievable that it could happen in relatively recent history.

I've got a sneaky feeling the displaced Welsh were better compensated than the Chagossians though?

Only landowners were compensated.

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7 hours ago, figgy said:

This is very old news, so long as Diego Garcia remains a strategic location nothing will change regardless of opinion.

It might have all kicked off some 50 years ago, but it is rumbling on to this very day.  Even the UN, within the last 2 years, has politely suggested we give it back.  There's loads more layers that make up this story.

I'm not trying to start a campaign, I just stumbled upon this and tbh I'm absolutely gobsmacked that it's going on with precisely zero media coverage.  I guess that illustrates a point - we're only ever told what "they" want us to hear??

5 hours ago, Dougy said:

This is nothing new, its been happening for century's, it's sort of happening now in our own country. 

Yes, centuries ago, as per my original post.... the colonialism was what it was.  In my opinion we can be in equal parts proud and ashamed of some of our ancestors' "conquests" and the way they have shaped the modern world.

But now?  Must have missed that story, from whereabouts currently are British citizens being expelled from their homeland by a greater foreign power in order to set up a military base?

Edited by Jim Neal
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