Get you up to speed: Chagossians remain on Île du Coin as deal to transfer territory collapses

Chagos leader vows to keep up desert island protest with deal in jeopardy | News World

Chagossians are prepared to endure water scarcity and threats of expulsion for as long as it takes (Picture: X)

Six Chagossians camping out on the remote desert islands say there are 600 more people ready to join them after the deal to hand over the territory collapsed.

Misley Mandarin, the island’s ‘first minister’, told WTX his group has ‘not won the war yet’ after the government shelved efforts to transfer the Chagos Islands to Mauritius over Donald Trump’s opposition to it.

He claimed officials were trying to pressure the islanders to leave their homeland of their own accord by denying them vital supplies.

The indigenous Chagossians say there are hundreds more who are prepared to endure water scarcity, uncomfortable conditions, and threats of expulsion in order to resettle the island.

First Minister Misley Mandarin and his father Michel, said he wants to die on the island where he was born

Their lawyer has accused Keir Starmer and the British government of acts that amount ‘to ethnic cleansing and potentially crimes against humanity’ for trying to remove the six men.

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Mandarin told WTX: ‘We’re going to stay however long it takes. This is our home now.

‘The only way Keir Starmer can remove us is by force, drag us from the beach.

‘I’ve got about six hundred people ready to drop everything and come to the island right now.’

Four British citizens, including Mandarin and his father, who was born on the Indian Ocean archipelago, landed on Île du Coin in February, before being joined by two others.

It is the first time Chagossians have lived there since they were evicted in the 1960s to make way for a military base.

The Foreign Office attempted to evict the exiled islanders, but a court ruled that they would be allowed to stay for the time being.

The Chagos Islands have been British since 1814, but last year the UK government agreed to hand over control to Mauritius and lease back the UK-US installation on Diego Garcia.

The agreement, which includes a plan to lease back the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia – the largest island in the remote Indian Ocean archipelago, has been criticised by the US president (Picture: AP)

Sir Keir has now ditched legislation to implement the plan from this year’s King’s Speech, after Trump branded the move an ‘act of great stupidity’.

Speaking from the remote island, Mandarin said his group was celebrating the news ‘with cautiousness’.

He told WTX: ‘We have not won the war yet, but some battles. We are still facing difficulties.

‘We won’t be reassured until Keir Starmer is not our prime minister, or he kills the deal completely.’

The relief on Île du Coin was cut short when officials boarded a supply boat for the island and allegedly prevented numerous essential items from being taken ashore.

Mandarin, and former Conservative MP Adam Holloway who is aiding the Chagossians, claimed authorities confiscated solar panels to make clean water, mosquito nets, and bedding.

The Chagossian leader, who says that fresh water is scarce on the island, said: ‘It was a lot of things to make our lives more comfortable on the island.

The boat heading to the Chagos Islands was allegedly intercepted (Picture: X)

Vital supplies for the island were allegedly confiscated (Picture: X)

‘They can see the deal is collapsing. I think this is a way to get their frustration out on us.

‘They want to discourage us and make our lives more difficult so we can leave by ourselves.’

A source from the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) told the Telegraph that they had agreed a voyage to the Chagos with over 130 categories of goods.

They added: ‘When the yacht tried to arrive, it became clear a number of additional items were present that had not been declared and for which there had been no attempt to notify/agree this with the BIOT administration in advance.’

Plans from the Foreign Office to expel the islanders have been halted by a successful legal challenge from the group’s lawyers.

A judge also ruled that islanders expelled in the 1960s have the right of abode on their homeland.

James Tumbridge, the attorney general for the Chagossian government, has made an urgent submission to the UN human rights commissioner asking for an intervention to safeguard the rights of those camping there.

The application mentions Sir Keir by name and accuses the government of acts that amount ‘to ethnic cleansing and potentially crimes against humanity’ for its efforts to expel the islanders.

Mandarin stood by these claims, adding: ‘We have been facing this for over sixty years now. Starmer is stopping us from coming to the island.

‘We want more Chagossians to come here and live in their ancestral home.’

His dad, Michel, in his 70s, was born on the islands and wants to die there.

Daily life on the Chagos archipelago, which is on the equator, can be challenging.

‘We have to keep ourselves busy to survive here,’ Mandarin explained.

‘We clean the beach, we collect all the single plastic water bottles.

‘We are catching water. Water is very scarce.’

There is one well on the island, which the group have to travel into the island to get to.

Mandarin says the inhabitants also spend their time fishing and have begun planting vegetables.

Chagossians were kicked out of the island to make way for a joint UK-US Diego Garcia site (Picture: Ben Birchall/PA Wire)

Speaking on Sky News this morning, Health Secretary Wes Streeting said the Chagos Islands deal is not dead.

He added: ‘We’ve been clear throughout that the objective is to make sure we secure the Chagos Islands for the long term in British and American interests.

‘I think there are lots of people in the US administration who understand what we’re trying to achieve, who support that objective.

‘We’re working with the Americans to try and resolve that, because we’ve been clear that we wouldn’t act without the Americans, because this also concerns their interests as well.’

A government spokesperson said: ‘The Diego Garcia military base is crucial to the security of the UK and our key allies, and to keeping the British people safe.

‘There are ongoing legal proceedings before the BIOT courts. Various UK and international courts have found that there is no right of abode on the Archipelago.’

In relation to the allegations about confiscated goods en route to the Chagos Islands, a BIOT source said: ‘The BIOT administration worked constructively and in good faith with those resupplying Île du Coin in the week before the voyage to agree a detailed manifest of over 130 categories of goods.

‘When the yacht tried to arrive, it became clear a number of additional items were present that had not been declared and for which there had been no attempt to notify/agree this with the BIOT administration in advance.

‘The BIOT administration stands ready to discuss reasonable goods for the group unlawfully on Île du Coin, but these need to be proposed and agreed in advance for the safety and security of the territory, particularly given the group previously illegally imported a drone.’

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