British court backs former residents of US military site
Ruling calls London's efforts to block repopulation of Diego Garcia 'repugnant and unlawful.'
In a decision that could have ramifications for the huge US airbase on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia, a British high court ruled earlier this month that attempts by the British government to keep the former residents of the Chagos islands from returning to the islands (which include Diego Garcia), even after they had won a court ruling in 2000 to do so, were "
outrageous, unlawful and a breach of accepted moral standards."
The British government expelled
the Chagossians, the original inhabitants of the islands, some 40 years ago so the US could build the airbase at Diego Garcia, but a British court ruled in 2000 that the islanders had a right to return to their home. After the decision, then Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said the British government would not appeal the ruling.
But under pressure from the US, London changed directions in 2004, using what was called "Royal Perogative" to overrule the original decision. Government lawyers had argued that in a territory like Diego Garcia, the Queen (and her ministers) have unlimited power and can use Royal Perogative powers in these territories, despite the fact that she lost the right to use such powers in Britain in the 17th century.
However,
Bloomberg reports that this month, the court ruled the continued expulsion of the Chagossians based on this line of thinking
was unlawful.
Prime Minster Tony Blair's attempt to use a centuries-old power of the Queen called an Order in Council to bypass Parliament and quash an earlier court ruling in the natives' favor was "irrational," Justice Peter Cresswell and Lord Justice Anthony Hooper ruled at the High Court [earlier this month]. "The suggestion that a minister can, through an Order in Council, exile a whole population from a British Overseas Territory and claim he is doing so for the `peace, order and good government' of the Territory is repugnant," the judges wrote.
The Daily Telegraph reports that the original event - "the secret expulsion of an entire population of islanders, carried out in
clear violation of international law, to make way for a giant American military base" - was one of the most "shameful episodes in British post-war history."
The decision is a severe embarrassment to the Foreign Office which has been put under strong pressure by the Americans to keep the Chagos islands empty save for US military personnel and guest workers on Diego Garcia. The expulsions were demanded by the Americans in a secret agreement in 1966 that saw Britain receive a discount on the Polaris submarine-launched nuclear missile system in return for a 50-year lease on Diego Garcia.
The court heard testimony during the trial of how senior officials in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office at the time conspired to keep quiet the expulsion and treatment of the islanders. The islanders' domestic animals were all gassed, and pregnant women were transported in the holds of ships to slums in Mauritius.
The islanders do not actually want to return to Diego Garcia, where most of them lived before the eviction, but rather to Peros Banhos and the Salomon islands, more than 100 miles from Diego Garcia. But
Bloomberg News reports that the
US is opposed to letting the islanders return at all, due to concerns about "terrorism."
Resettlement would jeopardize the "unparalleled security" of the military base, said Lincoln Bloomfield Jr., assistant secretary of state for political- military affairs. His Nov. 16, 2004, letter was quoted by the judges.
A follow-up letter said allowing natives to the outer islands risked "terrorists infiltrating the islands," using "missiles and electronic devices," the judges wrote. Still, the other islands are visited by yachts and a cruise ship, the judges wrote. The judges said a British treaty granting the US the right to build a base didn't give it the right to veto the islanders' return to islands other than Diego Garcia.
Media reports in the past have speculated that Diego Garcia is one of the sites where the US is secretly holding
Al Qaeda and Taliban prisoners.
The Times of London reported that even if the British government - which has been given until early June to make an appeal - and the US can do nothing to stop the islanders from returning, it could be a "
long and painful process." British officials have argued that repopulating other islands would be impractical because there is no fresh water and global warming means the outlying islands could soon be underwater.
Richard Gifford, the lawyer representing the islanders, dismissed the concerns as flimsy excuses. He pointed out that the islands were inhabited by generations of Ilois who thrived for hundreds of years. He predicted that they could rely on heavy annual rainfall for fresh water. The community could create a successful economy supported by rich fishing grounds, agriculture and eco-tourism.
As for the cost of building infrastructure, the islands could be helped by billions of pounds already earmarked for development by the European Union. The islanders have also offered to work as civilian contractors at Diego Garcia, where the Pentagon employs 2,000 Filipinos and Sri Lankans as support staff.
In April, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit ruled that US courts
were not authorized to grant compensation to the Chagossians for being removed from their homes. The court said that reviewing "40-year-old" decisions of the US Defense Department would be "meddling in foreign affairs beyond our institutional competence."
Also...
•
The Israel lobby: How powerful is it really? (Foreign Policy in Focus)
•
A letter to Aipac (The New York Review of Books)
•
Enlisting the military in domestic spying (Los Angeles Times)
• Feedback appreciated. E-mail
Tom Regan
.
|
RSS feed