PORT LOUIS, Mauritius: Four Chagos islanders, who oppose Britain handing back the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius, said they refused to leave despite a maritime patrol trying to evict them on Wednesday.
Britain kept control of the Chagos Islands after Mauritius gained independence in the 1960s and evicted all inhabitants to make way for a military base.
Last May, Britain agreed to hand back sovereignty to Mauritius while maintaining a lease on the largest island, Diego Garcia, home to the military base now used by the United States.
On Monday, four members of the Chagos community, accompanied by former British Conservative MP Adam Holloway, landed on remote Coin Island in the Peros Banhos atoll.
One of the group told AFP by phone that they were opposed to last year’s deal.
“The UK is handing away my homeland to Mauritius. That’s the reason why we’re here,” said Misley Mandarin, who has proclaimed himself “first minister” of the Chagossian government-in-exile.
He says he wants the islands to stay British and for the 322 surviving natives to return.
“We’re not waiting for any government to help us to settle,” Mandarin said in a live Facebook video.
“I dare (British Prime Minister) Keir Starmer to remove me or the Mauritian government to remove me.”
On Wednesday, a British maritime patrol attempted to expel the group, Mandarin told AFP by phone.
“They want to remove us from the island but we’re going to stay put... And we’ve got lawyers backing us,” he said.
According to a report by the Conservative Post, he is accompanied by his father, Michel Mandarin, 72, who was expelled from the islands when he was 14.
Mauritian Justice Minister Gavin Glover said it was “clearly a publicity stunt” ahead of a debate in the British parliament over the deal, which has been criticized by both rights groups and US President Donald Trump.
“All this is distressing, because the Mauritian state has made a solemn commitment to ensure that the Chagossians return to their homeland as soon as possible,” Glover told reporters.
Chagos islanders say they refuse to leave in protest against UK handover
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Chagos islanders say they refuse to leave in protest against UK handover
- Four members of the Chagos community, accompanied by former British Conservative MP Adam Holloway, landed on remote Coin Island in the Peros Banhos atoll
- Misley Mandarin: ‘I dare (British Prime Minister) Keir Starmer to remove me or the Mauritian government to remove me’
26 Doctors without Borders workers remain unaccounted for in South Sudan a month after attacks
- A hospital in the town of Lankien was bombed by government forces, MSF said
- “We have lost contact with them amid ongoing insecurity”
NAIROBI: More than two dozen Doctors Without Borders workers remain unaccounted for a month after attacks in South Sudan, the medical charity said.
Two facilities belonging to the group, known by French acronym MSF, were attacked on Feb. 3 in Jonglei State, northeast of the capital, Juba, where violence has displaced an estimated 280,000 people since December.
A hospital in the town of Lankien was bombed by government forces, MSF said, while another medical facility in the town of Pieri was raided by “unknown assailants.” Both were located in opposition-held areas.
Staff working at the two facilities fled alongside much of the local population into deeply rural areas where armed clashes and aerial bombardments were ongoing.
MSF said in a statement on Monday that “26 of 291 of our colleagues working in Lankien and Pieri remain unaccounted for.
“We have lost contact with them amid ongoing insecurity,” it said.
The lack of communication with its staff could be linked to the limited network connectivity in much of the state. Staff members who had been contacted described “destruction, violence and extreme hardships.”
Fighting escalated sharply in December, when opposition forces captured a string of government outposts in north central Jonglei. In January, the government responded with a counteroffensive that recaptured most of the area it had lost.
Displaced people in Akobo, an opposition-held town near the Ethiopian border, described horrific violence by government fighters. Many described not being able to find food or water as they walked for days to reach safety.
The attacks on MSF facilities in Lankien and Pieri are part of an uptick in violence on humanitarian staff, supplies and infrastructure, aid groups say. MSF facilities have been attacked 10 times in the last 12 months.
“This violence has taken an unbearable toll not only on health care services, but on the very people who kept them running,” said Yashovardhan, MSF head of mission in South Sudan, who only uses one name.
“Medical workers must never be targets,” he said. “We are deeply concerned about what has happened to our colleagues and the communities we serve.”
