Anerood Jugnauth - Threats On Diego Garcia

Threats On Diego Garcia

In 2007, Jugnauth threatened to leave the Commonwealth in protest at the UK's "barbarous" treatment of the people of the Chagos Islands. Jugnauth stated that he might take the UK to the International Court of Justice over the islanders' plight. The Chagos Islands, a British colony in the Indian Ocean, were leased to the US in the 1960s to build a military base.The residents were forced out, and the government says they cannot return, but have been granted UK citizenship. Many of the residents now live in poverty in Mauritius, or as refugees in the UK. The American base was built on the large island of Diego Garcia within the Chagos archipelago. Mauritius claims the islands as part of its territory, and Jugnauth claimed his country was forced by the British to accept the Chagossians as a condition for independence.

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