CASTELBUONO, Sicily (CN) — The fate of a strategic, and secretive, U.S. military base in the Indian Ocean, and the small population forced off the Chagos archipelago to make way for that military base, is in the hands of a United Nations court in The Hague.
The Chagos archipelago, a group of more than 60 islands about 310 miles south of the Maldives, was home to about 1,500 people, most of whom were descended from people brought to the islands to work on plantations, most often as slaves. Its largest island, and the only one inhabited since 1971, and only by military personnel, is Diego Garcia. The United Kingdom and United States evicted all the inhabitants on the Chagos islands beginning in 1967, to build a joint military base on Diego Garcia. That base has served as a launching pad for military strikes in the Middle East and Afghanistan.
It allegedly has also served more sinister purposes, according to numerous news reports. It was allegedly used as a detention center and refueling site for the CIA’s rendition and torture program. The base is run jointly by Britain and the United States. In 2016, Britain renewed the U.S. base’s lease for 20 years.
This week the International Court of Justice is hearing arguments over the legal status of the Chagos archipelago, which Britain kept for itself during negotiations that led to the independence of Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island republic, in 1968. An archipelago is a chain of islands.
The 15-member court is being asked to provide an advisory opinion to the United Nations General Assembly on whether the Chagos archipelago was unlawfully retained by Britain.
Although not legally binding, an advisory opinion would provide the UN with a legal framework to deal with the long-running question.
Mauritius has said it will allow the base to continue functioning, but in written arguments, the United States says it prefers the islands remain British.
“While the relationship between the United States and Mauritius is cordial, it cannot replicate the special relationship between the United States and United Kingdom,” the U.S. said.
U.S. attorneys said the military base on Diego Garcia “plays a critical role in the maintenance of peace and security, both in the Indian Ocean littoral region and beyond, and is a cornerstone of the close U.S.–U.K. defense cooperation.”
In court Monday, Mauritius and Britain presented their cases. Twenty other nations are scheduled to present arguments this week.
Britain and the United States are among the few nations arguing that the Chagos islands were lawfully obtained by Britain.
Britain’s lawyers argued that Mauritius agreed to let go of the Chagos islands in 1965. They characterized the Chagos archipelago as geographically separated from Mauritius, lying as it does more than 1,240 miles away.
But Mauritius argues that Britain coerced it into abandoning the Chagos islands by threatening to block independence unless it agreed to give up the islands.
On Monday, Anerood Jugnauth, the Mauritian minister of defense and a former prime minister, told the court he was the last remaining member of a delegation of Mauritians who attended talks in London in 1965 over independence.
Unbeknownst to him and others in the Mauritian delegation, he said, secret talks took place in which Britain forced Mauritius’ top leaders to accept the loss of the Chagos islands. He said this was revealed in British colonial documents opened up years later.