FROM THE OTHER SIDE OF THE OCEAN ARCHIPELAGO OF CHAGOS - Part 1

It is still an uninhabited land of men, a land without connection to the modern world, a land privilege of navigators who at the price of a long and often bumpy road are the only ones who can come to contemplate it. This Earth is an island. No, several islands, some grouped in atolls, others completely isolated perched on top of an emerging reef. These islands are unique, inviolate, sheltering a fauna not knowing the men and captaining underwater funds of an extraordinary purity. These islands have a mythical name for people of the Sea and unknown to those of Earth. Islands located on the other side of the ocean, the Archipelago of Chagos.

A TAINTED SOCIAL HISTORY

And yet, if the postcard is beautiful, social history is one of the most unfair of the post-colonial era. We are in 1964, the islands of the Western Indian Ocean are under British administration. This group of islands includes Mauritius, the Seychelles group, the Chagos Archipelago, as well as a few scattered islands in this part of the ocean. The time of independence has come. Two states, that of Mauritius and Seychelles are now free of European occupation. But the great war has just ended, and the strategic positions play a very important role. Somewhat forgotten between Mauritius and the Maldives, the Chagos are then easily negotiated for a modest sum by the English who retain the administration. The Chagos remain British, and are still today. On the spot, the exploitation of the copra is less and less lucrative and occupies only one or two thousand workers being for the most part either Mauritians, or descendants of freed slaves and become residents of the archipelago.

1967, only 3 years later, an agreement is signed between British and Americans. This agreement allows the pentagon to implant on the atoll of Diego Garcia, one of their largest military base worldwide outside US territory. Negotiated without consulting the local population, a close of the contract stipulates that the whole archipelago must be uninhabited of civilians. From this date, then began a series of "soft" evictions carried out by prohibiting the transport of passengers in the return direction Maurice-Chagos. Chagossian workers returning to Mauritius for family reasons or for health reasons find themselves unable to return to their archipelago. During the following years, the Chagos are slowly emptying its population, and will see its last inhabitants set sail for a final one-way trip to Mauritius in 1971 aboard a ship sponsored by the army. Expulsion is this time authoritarian.

Part 2 - Next week
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