The issue with Diego is the manner that the way it was created. First things first: Diego exists within the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT); BIOT was in fact created out of islands (the Chagos group) that would otherwise have gone to the Maldives and the Seychelles on independence. BIOT itself was only created to host Diego. This all happened from 1965 onwards, with the construction of the base starting in 1971.
The population of the Chagos archipelago was evicted to Mauritius by 1973, with some evidence that the force and deception were used to move the people off the islands. These evictions took place in two stages - first to Peros Banos in the northern element of the Chagos group, and then to Mauritius. It was an underhand and totally cynical operation to cement relations with the US - and within such a narrow understanding, completely understandable by the British Government of the day.
But it wasn't just, and the Chagossians / Illois have been fighting their cause for 35 years. It is incomprehensible to me that we should not do all we can to allow them to return to the outer islands - well away from the flightpath - or wherever possible, to employ them as contractors on the base. I know that there are concerns about the capacity of the islands to produce enough fresh water etc etc, but these are technical issues with technical solutions.
Fundamentally, what the British government did in the mid-60s is a stain on our national honour, and should be put right: and if it takes international humiliation at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg to force us to do the right thing, then it serves us right.
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Hey, moving house is always stressful | Andy Zaltzman - Times Online