Chagossians Fight Back
by Tessa Clarke, editor, The Chagos Files
This article is a reprint from The Chagos Files, with thanks
In the House of Lords, the Government has had to “delay” the Chagos Islands sovereignty bill. Temporarily. This is to allow time to consider and negotiate with the US how the bill affects the UK-US’s 1966 treaty which agrees terms for the US military base on Diego Garcia, one of the islands. No.10 insists that the deal will still go ahead, especially since Donald Trump’s recent U-turn (having previously described it as an “act of great stupidity”) after realising what a good deal it is for America.
As world leaders discuss the fate of the islands, many Chagossians are finding new ways to fight back against the Government’s £35bn sovereignty deal with Mauritius making new political alliances and coming up with innovative democratic ideas.
Deported from the small British Chagos Islands 60 years ago, Chagossians who feel ignored by successive British Governments, President Trump, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and Mauritius, are not giving up their demand for self-determination.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme on 22 January, the Foreign Secretary, Yvette Cooper dismissed President Trump’s scathing comments. She reiterated that the President had supported the deal in Spring 2025; suggesting that he is now trying to put pressure on Prime Minister Keir Starmer because of the United States’ desire to have sovereignty of Greenland to enhance Western security in the Arctic.
She also had little time for the opposition in Britain, including that from the Conservatives and Reform political parties saying, “Other people want to just sort of make claims and statements and tweets and headlines and all of those sorts of things. Our focus is on our long-term national security.” No mention was made by Cooper about Chagossians’ call for their democratic rights, despite prompts from Today’s presenter.
Chagossians campaigning for the right to resettle on the islands, for self-determination and opposition to the sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago being sold to Mauritius are having none of it.
All opposition Chagossian groups in the UK support Diego Garcia (the island with the UK-US military base on it) continuing its role in the interests of British national security. Instead, they would like to resettle on the outer islands in the Chagos Atolls. Their call for self-determination is not a call to make Diego Garcia into a tourist destination.
Now, together with other Chagossian opposition campaigners living in France, Switzerland, Mauritius and the Seychelles, Chagossian leaders are increasing their visibility on the world stage. Here are some of the key players:
– BIOT Citizen (British Indian Ocean Territory), is a British and Mauritius-based group, campaigning for Britain to retain the Chagos Islands and for the return of the Chagossians’ to their “homeland.” They have worked closely with Friends of the British Overseas Territories (FOTBOT) and the Great British PAC (Great British Political Action Committee) and received support from Priti Patel, the Conservative Party’s Shadow Foreign Secretary. Last year members voted for their leader Misley Mandarin to be Interim First Minister of a Chagossian Government-in-Exile. Vanessa Callou has been helping Mauritian Chagossians arriving in the UK last year get accommodation. On 21 September 2025 Mandarin called for Chagossians to vote Reform. Yesterday Mandarin attended the Crown Dependencies and British Overseas Territories All Party Parliamentary Group chaired by Andrew Rosindell MP who recently switched from the Conservatives to Reform. Recently the group said they would name an island after Trump if the President vetoed the treaty deal.
– Chagossian Voices (CV) is a community organisation for Chagossians around the world with a Facebook page and website updating readers with news. The group has opposed the deal with Mauritius on the grounds of self-determination and indigenous rights. Chagossian Voices also rejects the idea that if Mauritius gains sovereignty of the islands, a Mauritian minister should choose the Chagossian representative from the UK. Frankie Bontemps, Chair of CV, has written to the Foreign Secretary to raise concerns about the Trust Fund for the Benefit of Chagossions Bill currently going through the Mauritian Parliament. He points out that only one UK representative will sit on a proposed Trust Fund Board compared to 5 Chagossians from Mauritius, even though about half of Chagossians live in Britain.
– Indigenous Chagossian People (ICP) are a newly formed group made up of several groups including Association Chagossien De France. Members include Bernadette Dugasse and Bertrice Pompe who have been leading legal challenges to successive British Governments in support of Chagossian rights for years. Recently the ICP sent hundreds of letters to UK Parliamentarians calling for self-determination for the Chagossians and for Parliament to call a Referendum. ICP members have campaigned at the United Nations for several years too. On 2 December, the UN Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) reached a formal “decision” on the treaty. It called for the sovereignty treaty bill not to be ratified because it doesn’t allow the Chagossians to resettle on the islands nor have self-determination.
More British MPs are speaking out against the deal including Peter Lamb MP (Lab) for Crawley, the London borough where many Chagossian now live. He says, “Ukrainians, Greenlanders, Chagossians, all have a right to self-determination. As a party and a country, we should stand up for that right.”
Graham Stringer MP (Lab), wrote in The Telegraph that, “the [2024 Labour Party Election] manifesto pledges to the British people that Labour will ‘always defend their [British Overseas Territories] sovereignty and right to self-determination.’ The Diego Garcia Bill does the exact opposite.” (5) And Baroness Kate Hoey (Lab) spoke recently in the House of Lords asking, “What’s the difference between [the Government asking Greenlanders what they think of US’s demands over their country and] not allowing the Chagossians to have any say at all in us selling the Chagos Islands off?”
Will the rise of anti-treaty Chagossian campaigners and their supporters on the national and international political stage trigger a rebellion among the British public?
Yvette Cooper has said that the only reason for the deal is that is in the UK’s national interest, to avoid taking risks with national security and avoid legal challenges. She said the treaty deal aims “to strengthen intelligence and cooperation with the United States and that there is a firm legal basis for doing so.” This sounds compelling. Last week the US signed a defence contract for maintaining operations at the military base until 2034.
However, the Government’s arguments leave out the right of self-determination for Chagossians to right the wrongs of colonialism and that there are other ways of ensuring Britain’s national security. The arguments need to be heard more widely explaining why all British people should be aligning with the Chagossian democratic cause and at the same time supporting national security.
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THE COST OF THE CHAGOS SOVEREIGNTY DEAL
The £35bn (£34.7bn) figure originates from the Government Actuary’s Department (GAD), a report released following a Freedom of Information request by the Conservative Party last year, reports The Telegraph.
The Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, MP has refuted this figure but has not give an alternative total figure on the cost of the Chagos Islands deal. Instead, she says that the cost was 0.02% of the Defence annual budget.
Negotiations with Mauritius are still ongoing. And the treaty hasn’t yet been approved by Parliament. Negotiations with the US are on-going. There is still a chance the cost could change.
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Tessa Clarke is an award-winning investigative journalist, and editor, THE CHAGOS FILES
Twitter / X: @TessaClarkeLive
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