Examination of Witnesses (Questions 112-119)
MR. LOUIS
OLIVIER BANCOULT
AND MR.
RICHARD GIFFORD
23 JANUARY 2008
Chairman: Good afternoon. We are conducting
a general inquiry on the Overseas Territories. In that context,
it was thought useful to have an input relating to the situation
from your perspective in the Chagos Islands, even though they
are not at the moment occupied by people who were born there.
I invite you to introduce yourselves before we begin questions.
Mr. Bancoult: I am Louis Olivier
Bancoult, leader of the Chagos Refugee Group, and elected representative
of the Chagossian community in Mauritius.
Mr. Gifford: I am Richard Gifford.
I am the solicitor for the Chagossian community in Mauritius,
and have been conducting the law cases over the past 10 years.
Q112 Chairman: Mr. Bancoult, would
you explain how the community was removed from the archipelago,
and why?
Mr. Bancoult: It is a pleasure to be
here. Thank you for this opportunity to speak on behalf of my
people about our struggle. There are 3,700 Chagossians in Mauritius,
about 1,000 in the UK, and 500 in the Seychelles. The removal
of my people started in the 1960s, mainly in Diego Garcia, followed
by Peros Banhos and the Salomon Islands. We were all removed and
forced to leave everything behind. Arriving in Mauritius was a
nightmare for us. No planning had been made. No house, no job:
cast aside without any provision.
We suffered terrible hardship and dreadful living
conditions. Dumped into the slums of Port Louis, the capital of
Mauritius, we face many problems, such as drugs, prostitution,
joblessness, illness and early death. Over the years, we have
not been able to integrate into Mauritius: we have the worst jobs,
the worst housing and have barely managed to survive. Our community
is held together by our memory of our beautiful islands, which
we believe are our birthright. We have suffered enough and we
want to go back home. We ask for your help to make this possible.
We hope that this Committee will recommend that all Government
Departments respect the human rights of the Chagossians, who have
been denied them; that the Government consult the Chagossians
on how best to meet their wish to return to Chagos; and that,
finally, the FCO and the Department for International Development
jointly develop a proposal for the European Union or another fund
to support a resettlement programme for our people.
Q113 Chairman: We will come in a
moment to questions about the way forward and the future, but
for now I would like to focus on what actually happened. You referred
to the 1960s. Was the removal all at one point or was it phased?
Mr. Bancoult: It was phased. It
started in Diego Garcia, where people were asked to leave to make
way for the US military base.
Q114 Chairman: Which year was that?
Mr. Bancoult: It was in 1971.
At that time, those people were asked to choose either to go to
Peros Banhos or Salomon, or to return to Mauritius, but they were
all forced to leave Diego Garcia. What was said at the time was
that there would be no programme in Peros Banhos. One year after
Diego Garcia, those on Peros Banhos or Salomon were asked the
same thing—even though they are about 130 km from Diego
Garcia, everyone had to leave because it would become dangerous
for a civilian population to live there.
Q115 Chairman: Mr. Gifford, do you
wish to add anything?
Mr. Gifford: The effective removal
started immediately Mauritius became independent in 1968, because
the shipping link from Mauritius to Chagos was suspended. Olivier's
family, who returned to Mauritius just before then for medical
treatment for his sister, were prevented from returning to Chagos,
because there was no shipping any more. There was a gradual depopulation.
They were not warned when they went to Mauritius that they would
not be able to get back. The islands dwindled somewhat in population.
What then happened was that the Americans got their funds authorised
in December 1970. In January 1971, the British Indian Ocean Territory
administrator addressed the islanders and said that they had to
go. By September they had all left Diego Garcia.
Q116 Chairman: You referred to the
impact on your family and what conditions were like when people
were moved to Mauritius. Have those conditions improved in the
more than 30 years in which people have been living in Mauritius
or elsewhere?
Mr. Bancoult: I do not think that
the situation has improved. The reason is that when we were forced
to leave Chagos to come to Mauritius there was no planning. Compare
that with the situation on Chagos: all the Chagossians had their
own house and job—all the people worked on the coconut plantations—whereas
arriving in Mauritius was a nightmare. It is a very different
life from Chagos. In Mauritius, we have textile industries and
sugar cane plantations. No training was given to Chagossians to
integrate them into Mauritian society.
Q117 Mr. Keetch: May I confirm, gentlemen,
that you are talking about 3,000 to 4,000 people? Is that your
approximation of the numbers?
Mr. Bancoult: A little more than
that.
Q118 Mr. Keetch: Are you saying 4,000
people?
Mr. Bancoult: Yes, 4,000 or 5,000.
Q119 Mr. Keetch: Do your people tend
to live together in one main community in Mauritius?
Mr. Bancoult: We have been living
in the slums in various places in the poorest regions of Port
Louis. In those places, we faced many problems, just like the
lowest category of people in Mauritius which, as you know, has
an ethnic problem, and we were forced to leave the region.
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