麻豆约拍

Members of Parliament in Britain have called on the government to allow the immediate return of people forcibly displaced from the Chagos Islands decades ago to accommodate a joint US and British military base.

In a letter to the British Foreign Secretary, David Cameron, the MPs say that preventing the return of the Chagossians who were forcibly removed in the 1960s and 1970s from one of the UK's last colonial outposts perpetuates an historic injustice.

But Lord Cameron recently said it had been "not possible" to allow the islanders to go home, which is at odds with the position of the United States 鈥� Washington has no stated objections to the islanders' return.

The MPs have called for an immediate pilot resettlement scheme to be set up, with financial contributions from the US. Human Rights Watch has called for reparations by both governments to the islanders. Newsday heard what Britain鈥檚 government did and what the islanders want, from the UK director of Human Rights Watch, Yasmine Ahmad:

鈥淭he UK government has resisted for 40 years to allow the indigenous population to return. The Chagossians have been very clear that they are not saying they want the military base to close, but they want their right to return to the islands.鈥�

鈥淭his is an ongoing crime and should Mauritius sign an agreement and not allow these individual to return - should they gain sovereignty 鈥� they will assume those responsibilities as well.鈥�

(Pic: FILE PHOTO: Demonstrator demanding her return to the Chagos Islands in the Diego Garcia archipelago outside the British parliament in London, 2008; Credit: Reuters)

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