"Britain dealing 'blow to human rights' in Indian Ocean row"

Britain's refusal to allow exiled former residents of a remote Indian Ocean territory to resettle there "deals an outrageous blow to human rights", the government of Mauritius, which plays host to many of the exiles, said today.
The criticism comes a day after Britain ruled out resettling the former inhabitants of the Chagos Islands, who were expelled more than 40 years ago to make way for a US military base.
In 1965 Britain purchased the Chagos Islands, an archipelago of 55 coral keys, from Mauritius, which at the time was a semi-autonomous territory of Britain.
A year later the islands were leased to the United States. Their roughly 2,000 inhabitants were resettled mainly in Mauritius and the Seychelles, and now their numbers including descendants number roughly 10,000.

Yesterday Britain also announced that the lease, which expires next month, will be renewed, but offered 40 million pounds (47 million euros, USD 50 million) as a deal-sweetener to compensate the exiled Chagossians.
It listed the grounds for refusal as defence and security interests, cost and the sheer infeasibility of a resettlement operation.

But the Mauritian government said London had broken with an arbitration court ruling last year by acting without consulting it.
"The denial of the right of Mauritians -- and those of Chagossian origin in particular -- to set up in the Chagos archipelago constitutes a clear violation of international law and deals an outrageous blow to human rights", the Mauritius government said in a statement.

Mauritius had agreed to hold new talks with Britain next year on the Chagos Island dispute and has reserved the right to refer the matter to the International Court of Justice.
Diego Garcia, the best known island of the remote archipelago, has played a key strategic role in US military operations. In the 1970s it offered proximity to Asia as the fall of Saigon, the Khmer Rouge takeover of Cambodia and an assertive Soviet navy extended communist influence in the Indian Ocean.
In recent years it has served as a staging ground for the US bombing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.