When Laurenza Piron was forced from her home in the Chagos Islands in 1970, she was sent on a boat to the Seychelles. Her parents and siblings were sent to Mauritius. It was two decades before they located one another again, and even then none of them could afford a reunion. So Piron, now 76, never saw her family again.
“I wanted to go, but I didn’t have the money,” says Piron. “Compensation should have been paid. If it had, there wouldn’t be such hardship.”
Piron was among 1,500 people made to leave the Chagos Islands, on the Indian Ocean archipelago, by the US and British militaries. The UK, which owned the land, had leased the largest island, Diego Garcia, to the US to build a military base.
Last year, the international court of justice in The Hague ruled that the continued British occupation of the islands was illegal.
In the 1970s, the UK gave the Mauritian government £4.65m to distribute to the Chagossians in compensation, but no money was paid to people sent to the Seychelles.
Those exiled are hoping that will change as they file a new petition through the US Foreign Claims Act, which awards compensation for noncombatants’ injury, death or property damage by US military personnel overseas.
“Based on the [2019] UN ruling there is an illegal occupation of the Chagos Islands,” says Jonathan Levy, a US-based lawyer representing the Chagossians in the petition. “We’re saying to the government: you owe damages to the Chagossian people for operating a military base on their property.”
‘I want to die on my native soil’: exiled Chagos Islanders dream of return
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In October, the US Department of the Air Force rebuffed a first attempt, stating: “It has been determined that payment of the claims is not in the interests of the US government.” However, the legal team is planning a new legal action after president-elect Joe Biden takes office in January.
“The incoming Biden administration seeks to change US foreign policy, and the Chagos archipelago is a good place to begin by recognising the claims of the Chagossians to their property and land and by paying a small restitution, given the immense value the rent-free use of Diego Garcia has provided the United States for the past five decades,” says Levy.
Travel brochures depict the Seychelles as an island paradise, an oasis of golden beaches and crystal clear waters. But for Chagossians, it has been a place of discrimination, poverty and homelessness.
When Piron first came to the Seychelles with her husband and three children, they slept on the ground beneath a coconut tree.
“To go to school with no shoes, it would take an hour to walk there,” says Laurenza’s son, Jean-Joseph, 55, who was five years old when he arrived on the island. “On the way, we would pick fruits from the trees and that would be our breakfast because we had no money to eat. Concentrating in lessons was impossible on an empty stomach,” he explains, through tears.
Timeline Chagos Islands
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1793
France establishes colony
Diego Garcia is made home to a French colony using slave labour on plantations
1814
Britain takes control
Mauritius and the Chagos Islands are ceded to Britain at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in the Treaty of Paris
1965
Becomes part of British Indian Ocean Territory
Before independence is granted to Mauritius, the UK separates the Chagos archipelago from Mauritius, creating British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).
1966
Military deal with US
Britain allows the US to use the largest island, Diego Garcia, as a military base in exchange for a discount on the purchase of Polaris missiles.
1971
Expulsions begin
Forced expulsion of around 1,500 Chagossians begin as access to food supplies is restricted. Most are moved to Mauritius or the Seychelles.
1978
Compensation is offered
Chagossian refugees in Mauritius were paid compensation, and more offers followed contingent on them signing agreements not to return to their homes.
2002
Resettlement to the UK
British passports are granted to some Chagossians. Many move from Mauritius to Crawley. A UK government feasibility study into resettlement concludes it would be expensive and difficult.
2010
Wikileaks revelations
A Marine Protected Area is established around the Chagos Islands. Documents published by Wikileaks show a UK diplomat saying that “establishing a marine park would, in effect, put paid to resettlement claims of the archipelago’s former residents”.
25 February 2019
Government actions ruled illegal
International Court of Justice rules that the agreement to separate the Chagos Islands from Mauritius in 1965 prior to decolonisation was unlawful.
22 May 2019
UN defeat for the UK
The United Nations general assembly overwhelmingly backs a motion condemning Britain’s occupation of the islands. The vote, which left the UK diplomatically isolated, set a six-month deadline for the UK to withdraw from the archipelago and for it to be reunified with neighbouring Mauritius.
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Many Chagossians in the Seychelles were taunted by the locals, told to go back to where they came from. They were called anara, which meant uncivilised, dirty and unvaccinated.
The family have always struggled to make ends meet. Piron’s husband found work as a fisherman, and eventually the family was able to build a small homestead in the forest, not far from the coconut trees they had slept under.
“We never lacked food on the [Chagos] islands. If we needed fish, we would go get some from the ocean,” says Piron, but she adds: “Life is hard here, very hard. I struggle.”
The military chased my family with guns. They didn’t want to leave the island. It’s a sad story
Cyril Bertrand, 72
Georgette Gendron, 67, from Diego Garcia, came to the Seychelles aged 12, with her parents and five siblings. With nowhere to go, the entire family lived in a cramped single room in the basement of a relative’s house.
“There was no house, no food, nothing. Can you imagine being told to just go, with no place, with all those kids. We were just like refugees,” says Gendron. “My mama was very miserable. She had health problems. There was a time when papa didn’t have work.”
Cyril Bertrand, 72, happened to be in the Seychelles for medical treatment when the Chagos Islands were closed. His family – seven siblings and his father – were sent to Mauritius.
“The military chased my family with guns. They didn’t want to leave the island. It’s a sad story,” he says.
Bertrand settled in the Seychelles, got married, found a job, and was among the few who could afford to visit his family in Mauritius. Many Chagossians aren’t so fortunate, he says.
Many of the first generation of the exiled population are elderly, poor and coming to terms with the prospect of never seeing their homeland again. “Most of them die here in Seychelles,” says Bertrand. “They never get to Mauritius. Even though they have family there.”
In 2016, the British government unveiled a £40m support package for community projects for Chagossians living in the UK, Mauritius and Seychelles, to be paid over a decade. So far less than 2% of this fund has been distributed.
The Chagossians interviewed said they had not benefited from the money.
“Compensation would mean we could have had a better life here,” says Gendron. “The wrongs should be corrected. What about justice?”
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