London, February 26
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday dismissed the UK’s right to govern the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean and called on its government to withdraw from the archipelago, a verdict viewed as a big setback to Britain’s standing in the UN.
Mauritius had filed a claim in the top UN court demanding its right over the islands, an assertion which was backed by India during the legal proceedings in September last year. In its advisory opinion, which is not legally binding, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concluded that the archipelago had not been lawfully separated from Mauritius, a former British colony which gained independence in 1968.
The Chagos Islands, which includes the strategic US airbase of Diego Garcia, has been operated as a British Indian Ocean Territory. “The UK has an obligation to bring to an end its administration of Chagos archipelago as rapidly as possible,” ICJ President Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said.
The ICJ ruled that the process of separating the Chagos Islands from Mauritius during decolonisation in the 1960s constituted an “unlawful detachment” and was a “wrongful act”.
In its submission to the ICJ last year, Mauritius argued it was coerced into giving up the Chagos Islands, while the UK government had told the court it did not have jurisdiction to hear the case. — PTI
US military base in Diego Garcia in trouble?
- The Chagos Islands, which includes the strategic US airbase of Diego Garcia, has been operated as a British Indian Ocean Territory. Britain cut off the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 before granting it independence in 1968
- The residents of Diego Garcia were forcibly removed by the British colonial administration and it was leased out to the US, which set up its strategic Indian Ocean military base In the 1970s and 1980s India had opposed the US base in Diego Garcia
- For years, the US base has been vital to the military, serving as a landing spot for bombers that fly missions across Asia. The ruling raises questions about its future. Diego Garcia is the largest of the islands in the Chagos Archipelago
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