W.When Laurenza Piron was forced from her home in the Chagos Islands in 1970, she was sent to the Seychelles by boat. Her parents and siblings were sent to Mauritius. It took them two decades to find each other, 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 that were the case, there wouldn’t be such hardship. “
Piron was one of 1,500 people forced to leave the Chagos Islands, in the archipelago of the Indian Ocean, by the American and British armies. 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 continued British occupation of the islands was illegal.
In the 1970s, the UK gave the government of Mauritius £ 4.65 million to distribute to the Chagossians as compensation, but no money was paid to people sent to Seychelles.
Those exiled hope this will change when they file a new petition through the US Foreign Claims Act, which awards compensation for non-combatant injuries, death, or property damage caused by US military personnel abroad.
“Based on the [2019] According to the UN, there is an illegal occupation of the Chagos Islands, ”said Jonathan Levy, a US-based attorney who represents the Chagossians in the petition. “We say to the government, you owe compensation to the Chagossian people for operating a military base on their property.”
In October, the US Department of the Air Force rejected a first attempt, stating, “It has been determined that payment of the claims is not in the interest of the US government.” However, the legal team is planning a new legal process after President-elect Joe Biden took office in January.
The upcoming Biden government is trying to change US foreign policy, and the Chagos Archipelago is a good place to start by recognizing the Chagossians’ claims to their properties and land and paying a small refund, given the tremendous value of Diego Garcia’s rent-free use has delivered to the United States for the past five decades, ”says Levy.
Travel brochures show the Seychelles as an island paradise, an oasis of golden beaches and crystal clear waters. But for Chagossians it was a place of discrimination, poverty and homelessness.
When Piron first came to Seychelles with her husband and three children, they slept on the ground under a coconut tree.
“To go to school without shoes would take an hour to walk there,” said Laurenza’s son, Jean-Joseph, 55, who was five years old when he arrived on the island. “On the way we picked fruit from the trees and that would be our breakfast because we didn’t have the money to eat. It was impossible to concentrate on an empty stomach, ‘he explains through tears.
France establishes colony
Diego Garcia is home to a French colony that uses slave labor on plantations
Britain is taking the lead
Mauritius and the Chagos Islands ceded to Great Britain at the end of the Napoleonic Wars in the Treaty of Paris
Becomes part of British Indian Ocean Territory
Before Mauritius becomes independent, the UK separates the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius, creating the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).
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.
Evictions begin
The forced expulsion of about 1,500 Chagossians begins because access to food supplies is limited. Most are moved to Mauritius or the Seychelles.
Compensation is offered
Chagossian refugees in Mauritius received compensation, and more offers followed, subject to agreements signed not to return to their homes.
Resettlement to the UK
British passports are issued to some Chagossians. Many are moving from Mauritius to Crawley. A UK government feasibility study on resettlement concludes that it would be expensive and difficult.
Wikileaks disclosures
A protected marine area is being established around the Chagos Islands. Documents published by Wikileaks show that a British diplomat says that “setting up a marine park would in fact be paid for resettlement requests from the archipelago’s former inhabitants.”
Government actions were declared illegal
The International Court of Justice ruled that the 1965 agreement to separate the Chagos Islands from Mauritius prior to decolonization was illegal.
Many Chagossians in the Seychelles were taunted by the locals and told to go back to where they came from. They were called anara, which meant uncivilized, dirty and unvaccinated.
The family has always struggled to make ends meet. Piron’s husband found work as a fisherman and eventually the family managed to build a small farmhouse in the forest, not far from the coconut trees under which they had slept.
“We never lacked food on the [Chagos] Islands. If we needed fish, we would get some out of the ocean, ”Piron says, but she adds,“ Life is hard here, very hard. I struggle. “
Georgette Gendron, 67, from Diego Garcia, came to Seychelles at the age of 12 with her parents and five siblings. With nowhere to go, the whole family lived in a small single room in the basement of a relative’s house.
“There was no house, no food, nothing. Can you imagine being told to just leave, with no place, with all those kids? We were like refugees, ”says Gendron. My mother was very miserable. She had health problems. There was a time when Dad was unemployed. “
Cyril Bertrand, 72, happened to be in the Seychelles for medical treatment when the Chagos Islands were closed. His family – seven brothers and sisters and his father – were sent to Mauritius.
‘The army chased my family with guns. They did not want to leave the island. It’s a sad story, ”he says.
Bertrand settled in the Seychelles, got married, got a job and was one of the few who could afford to visit his family in Mauritius. Many Chagossians are not so lucky, he says.
Many of the first generation of the exiled population are elderly, poor, and come to terms with the prospect of never seeing their homeland again. “Most of them die here in the Seychelles,” said Bertrand. “They never come to Mauritius. Even though they have family there. “
In 2016, the UK government unveiled a £ 40 million support package for community projects for Chagossians living in the UK, Mauritius and Seychelles, to be paid over a decade. Less than 2% of this fund has been disbursed so far.
The Chagossers interviewed said they had not taken advantage of the money.
“Compensation would mean we could have had a better life here,” says Gendron. “The mistakes must be corrected. What about justice? “
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