View Full Version : Diego Garcia
chopper2004
23rd May 2019, 18:20
The UN appears to be backing the end of UK rule to the island and thus hand it back to the Mauritius government. In saying that, the Mauritius government also says the air base would still be allowed to operate providing it conforms with international law..
Any thoughts?
Cheers
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48371388
Chugalug2
23rd May 2019, 19:53
How can it be 'handed back to the Mauritius government' when it never came under its jurisdiction in the first place? It was intentionally excluded from Mauritius as part of the independence agreement. The islanders don't want to be a part of Mauritius, having been poorly treated when evacuated there. They have since resided close by Gatwick, patiently awaiting a return to their homeland.
They would prefer to be a British dependency thereafter, despite being expelled by us. They are about to be disappointed yet again, I fear.
Training Risky
24th May 2019, 09:24
Never going to happen. Gibraltar will be given away to Spain before Diego Garcia is given up.
Anyway, the UN can make all the declarations it wants. Ignore them as they are meaningless.
Chris Kebab
24th May 2019, 09:49
Never going to happen. Gibraltar will be given away to Spain before Diego Garcia is given up.
Anyway, the UN can make all the declarations it wants. Ignore them as they are meaningless.
...may be "meaningless" - but that does not mean wrong.
The treatment, by the British Government, of the people of Diego Garcia is frankly a national disgrace, an utterly shameful piece of UK foreign policy.
Training Risky
24th May 2019, 10:15
...may be "meaningless" - but that does not mean wrong.
The treatment, by the British Government, of the people of Diego Garcia is frankly a national disgrace, an utterly shameful piece of UK foreign policy.
I agree - the Chagossians were treated poorly. In direct contrast to the way Thatcher jumped to defend the sovereignty of a different Crown Colony a decade later!
But this is a wicked problem: There must be an airfield there to provide strategic power projection in the region and keep the US sweet, but it's near impossible to reconcile with the Chagossians' right to return.
chevvron
24th May 2019, 11:22
The UN appears to be backing the end of UK rule to the island and thus hand it back to the Mauritius government. In saying that, the Mauritius government also says the air base would still be allowed to operate providing it conforms with international law..
Any thoughts?
Cheers
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-48371388
Only the airbase? What about the massive naval base and the other 'operation' which isn't supposed to be there?
Compass Call
24th May 2019, 21:21
Yes, I thought that Diego Garcia had been given to the Americans as their permanent presence in the Indian Ocean.
They are very unlikely to give it up any time soon. It might even become another state if we are not too careful!
TBM-Legend
25th May 2019, 00:09
This is a UN backed disrupt to the US sponsored by China. Wake up people
m39462
25th May 2019, 00:31
It is entirely possible the Americans will refuse to vacate Diego Garcia just as they have refused to vacate Guantanamo Bay.
WingNut60
25th May 2019, 00:54
I believe that Putin also is thinking about handing the Crimea back to the Ukraine.
And possibly China giving Tibet back to its people? And Turkey pulling out of northern Cyprus?
atakacs
25th May 2019, 07:35
I believe that Putin also is thinking about handing the Crimea back to the Ukraine.
Well if you look at a map you will find some differences in the respective disposition of said territories vs their "motherland".
I fully understand the strategic importance of both and the respective power balances. That being said the treatment of local residents can not be even compared. What the UK has done, most likely under the instructions of the US, is nothing short of abject, plain and simple.
magruder1980
25th May 2019, 07:39
Absolute disgrace - and there is no reason why the the islanders and the base can't co-exist as they seem to do on Okinawa, Cyprus, Norfolk and just about everywhere else...........
magruder1980
25th May 2019, 07:44
"It is entirely possible the Americans will refuse to vacate Diego Garcia just as they have refused to vacate Guantanamo Bay."
The USA has a legal right to Guantanamo - the 1903 Lease for Guantanamo has no fixed expiration date.
Chagos Islands is a deal between the USA and the UK who "own" the islands - it's a lease extended to 2036
RearEntry
25th May 2019, 16:44
Absolute disgrace - and there is no reason why the the islanders and the base can't co-exist as they seem to do on Okinawa, Cyprus, Norfolk and just about everywhere else...........
There is not actually that much landmass, and when you view it from the ground it's not very impressive. Highest point IIRC is only about 10M, much of the Eastern leg is eroding at a rate of knots, and you have to ask what anyone would live on. Most of the Western arm is covered in active facilities, so from the accomodation at the top to the observatory at the southern tip, there is not much spare space. Civilians living in the middle of an active military base is not going to happen. Logistics are a nightmare, e.g. rubbish is sorted, baled, and shipped to the far East to be recycled/disposed of. Medical facilities are not bad, but it's a five hour flight to Singapore if something nasty were to happen. It's not somewhere I'd like to grow up, it's just a sunny version of one of the smaller outer Hebrides.
On the plus side, there is very active protection of the marine life around the atoll, the booties (well they used to) make sure any visits to the Northern islands by yachties are not extended. Consequently it is a very special place for wildlife.
ancientaviator62
26th May 2019, 07:29
Wrecked Catalina inside the atoll at Diego Garcia. First time I went there it was just as it had been in WW2. Second time there had been a huge transformation. And the 'booties' were actively patrolling in RIBS,https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/1024x700/hercules_diego_garcia_cat_wreck_b2e48e8f340fa2abe18bbe57f497 f75893b08a51.jpg
sycamore
26th May 2019, 10:56
Must be a 30 Sqn crew looking for spares...!
ancientaviator62
26th May 2019, 11:22
Sycamore,
second visit was during my 30 Sqn time. A colleague and I sailed a dingy around looking at all the interesting 'things' parked up.
uffington sb
26th May 2019, 16:57
So why can’t they live on any of the other atolls?
The atoll with the port and airbase on is just one of many.
RearEntry
28th May 2019, 14:54
The other islands are tiny, and apart from getting submerged by tropical storms from time to time, there is no fresh water. Infrastructure wise there are no buildings, no harbours, no airstrips, and no electricity.
I suspect that people who have never been there believe that they are just like an undeveloped Maldives, that might work for a very few visitors on Diego Garcia itself - if the military left, leaving behind their oil fired powerstation and the fragile network of saltwater lenses. We'd be rescuing any inhabitants from the ravages of tropical storms at great expense to the taxpayer within a few years. I dread to think what the cost of shipping everything in and all the rubbish out will come to.
uffington sb
28th May 2019, 15:21
They lived on Ile Boddam, which is part of the Salomon atoll, and nowhere near Diego Garcia.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salomon_Islands
Planemike
28th May 2019, 18:52
So why can’t they live on any of the other atolls?
The atoll with the port and airbase on is just one of many.
Perhaps the islanders do not wish to live on any of the other atolls.
Brian W May
28th May 2019, 20:08
Sleeping there gave me a really nasty headache . . . but they had a Class 6 no less and we were able to stock up for Perth and Woomera et al.
The only downside? One of the skippers was Jeff Bullen, but you can't have everything.
uffington sb
29th May 2019, 06:40
Planemike.
They want to return to Ile Boddam, where the village of Chagos was. They do not want to go to Diego Garcia.
melmothtw
29th May 2019, 07:39
I believe that Putin also is thinking about handing the Crimea back to the Ukraine.
And possibly China giving Tibet back to its people? And Turkey pulling out of northern Cyprus?
It's telling that the countries we are comparing ourselves to here are Russia, China and Turkey. That tells me all I need to know about the rights and wrongs of this particular argument.
Chugalug2
29th May 2019, 09:21
uffington sb:-
They want to return to Ile Boddam, where the village of Chagos was. They do not want to go to Diego Garcia.
Do you have a link for that assertion? I ask because Diego Garcia is by far the largest island in the archipelago and was presumably home to a fair number of inhabitants. It might be that their leaders have conceded that they accept a return to that island will not be possible while the base is there. That is quite different to saying that they don't want to go to Diego Garcia when it is possible.
Here is the Beeb summary of the situation after the lost Supreme Court appeal in 2016:-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36659976
racedo
29th May 2019, 15:36
And possibly China giving Tibet back to its people? And Turkey pulling out of northern Cyprus?
or UK giving back Akrotiri to the Cypriots
Momoe
30th May 2019, 14:26
Or a little closer to home, Spain giving back Ceuta and Melilla?
Or at least give the citizens of Morocco a chance to vote on the issue and Britain could then do likewise in Gib. Oh, I forgot we already have!
The Spanish have a word for this - Hipocresia
racedo
30th May 2019, 15:20
Or a little closer to home, Spain giving back Ceuta and Melilla?
Or at least give the citizens of Morocco a chance to vote on the issue and Britain could then do likewise in Gib. Oh, I forgot we already have!
The Spanish have a word for this - Hipocresia
But isn't it hypocrisy if you are stating Moroccan citizens rather than residents of Ceuta and Melilla should all be allowed to vote, but then only Gibraltans when it should be Spain and Gibraltar as a whole.
End the colonial outposts for everybody.
melmothtw
30th May 2019, 15:49
But isn't it hypocrisy if you are stating Moroccan citizens rather than residents of Ceuta and Melilla should all be allowed to vote, but then only Gibraltans when it should be Spain and Gibraltar as a whole.
End the colonial outposts for everybody.
What is a colonial outpost when every American country was founded on colonialism, as well as Australia and New Zealand besides.
pr00ne
30th May 2019, 20:16
melmothtw,
Give Australia and New Zealand back to their rightful owners and come back to Europe!
melmothtw
30th May 2019, 20:37
melmothtw,
Give Australia and New Zealand back to their rightful owners and come back to Europe!
Fair play, so long as the same goes for Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Ecuador.....etc
Lonewolf_50
31st May 2019, 18:32
melmothtw,
Give Australia and New Zealand back to their rightful owners and come back to Europe!
The rightful owners are the Australians. The hint is in the name.
It wasn't Australia untl them from across the sea showed up.
Human History, 101, suggest you review the course.
It wasn't Australia untl them from across the sea showed upThe name Australia derives from Latin australis meaning southern, and dates back to 2nd century legends of an "unknown southern land" (that is terra australis incognita). The explorer Matthew Flinders named the land Terra Australis, which was later abbreviated to the current form. Previously, when the Dutch explored the area they named it Nova Hollandicus or New Holland.Flinders later renamed the land Australia in a chart compiled in 1804 whilst he was held prisoner by the French in Mauritius. When he returned to England and published his works in 1814 he was forced to change the name to Terra Australis by the British Admiralty. Governor Macquarie of New South Wales became aware of Flinders' preference for the name Australia and used it in his dispatches to England. In 1824 the British Admiralty finally accepted that the continent should be known officially as Australia.
And don't forget that it's part of the GPS control segment.