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BRITISH INDIAN OCEAN TERRITORY
Sovereignty
1.
Under the Treaty of Paris, 1814, France ceded to Britain
various islands in the Indian Ocean including Mauritius and the
Chagos Archipelago, of which Diego Garcia is the main island.
The Chagos Islands were administered for reasons of convenience
from Mauritius, following the French practice before 1814. The
Archipelago was detached from Mauritius in 1965 with the full
agreement of the Mauritius Council of Ministers to form part of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). Mauritius was paid
£3m compensation for the detachment of the Islands.
2..
The Mauritius Government has indicated its determination
to press for the return of the Chagos Archipelago. Mr Jugnauth,
the Mauritian Prime Minister, raised the Mauritius claim to
sovereignty over Diego Garcia at the United Nations General
Assembly last October. Last month, the Mauritians, encouraged
by India, actively canvassed their claim at the Non-Aligned
Movement Summit in New Delhi and succeeded in having a reference
to it included in the final communique.
Nature of the Defence Facility
3.
The facilities on Diego Garcia are available for the
defence purposes of both the British and the US Governments as they may arise. The scope of the facility is set out in the
Agreements of 1966, 1972 and 1976, published as Command Papers
3231, 5160 and 6413 respectively.
Removal of the Islanders : Comparison with the Falklanders
4.
Early in the 19th Century, the Chagos Islands passed into
private ownership and copra plantations were established on the larger islands. Plantation workers were recruited mainly from
Mauritius; they depended entirely on the plantation owners for
their livelihood, had no legal right to remain on the islands
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