#chagos-islands

#chagos-islands

Following interventions from the US, we are now discussing those concerns with the United States directly. While the US had expressed support for the treaty between the UK and Mauritius when it was signed last year, there clearly has been a statement from the president of the United States more recently, which is very significant.

Misley Mandarin, leader of the four people who landed on Monday on the remote Ile du Coin atoll, said they were living in tents. They expect 10 more arrivals next week and many more in the coming year, he said. Mandarin, who was born in Mauritius, told Reuters that his father, Michel Mandarin, 74, was with him and had been removed from the island aged 14. I am not in exile any more. This is my homeland, he said, adding that he wanted to make it possible for the 322 people who he said were born on Ile du Coin and still alive to come home before they die. He sought to reassure the US that the settlement did not threaten the military base on Diego Garcia.

One of the most precious marine reserves in the world, home to sharks, turtles and rare tropical fish, will be opened to some fishing for the first time in 16 years under the UK government's deal to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Allowing non-commercial fishing in the marine protected area (MPA) is seen as an essential part of the Chagossian people's return to the islands, as the community previously relied on fishing as their main livelihood.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground.

"letting us down."

Trump continued, pacing now. He spoke of weakness, of maps redrawn by hesitation, of allies who handed away strategic ground and called it diplomacy. If Britain could give up islands in the Indian Ocean, he asked, why should America hesitate in the Arctic? Greenland entered the room like a ghost-vast, white, and suddenly very real.

said the Tories were "irreparably bound to the mistakes of previous governments" and not willing to take "meaningful accountability" for poor decisions.

The granddaughter of one of those residents was in tears as she thought about her homeland's history when she landed at Heathrow. "My grandmother was a British Chagossian," said Rebecca Philippe. "Fifty years ago, she was uprooted from her island, and we have seen her suffering. By seeing her suffering, we suffered too, with her."