LALIT Warns of Looming Dangers on Diego Garcia and Chagos Issue
11.12.2022
LALIT calls for Pravind Jugnauth to choose the venue for any talks with Britain or the USA over Chagos or Diego Garcia very carefully. He should consider proposing Pelindaba, in South Africa, for example. The venue would need prior agreement, of course, from the South African government. Otherwise, negotiations should be held in Mauritius but certainly not in the UK or USA since these two States are guilty of breaking international law. In fact, the very idea of “negotiations” is dangerous for Mauritius, given that the International Court of Justice, the UN’s highest court, and the quasi totality of the UN General Assembly, have told the British to evacuate the entirety of Chagos. We, in LALIT, re-iterate that the only negotiations should be for a time-frame for the British and USA to respect international law and get out. It should be remembered that LALIT has been right all along on this.
Today, we suggest Pelindaba as the venue for talks for a reason. The Treaty of Pelindaba for a Nuclear Arms Free Africais a binding UN international treaty named after very place that Nelson Mandela agreed to dismantle and close down i.e. the Apartheid-era South Africa nuclear arms plant that had been set up with French and Israeli aid. This unique instance of closing down a nuclear arms industry was agreed to by the new ANC government in exchange for a world-wide formal guarantee that the whole of Africa, including the Republic of Mauritius, which includes the Chagos Archipelago, which includes Diego Garcia as proven by the judgments of the ICJ and the ITLOS, would be a nuclear arms free area. The notorious dotted lines around Chagos negotiated when Paul Bérenger was in charge of the dossier, meaning the sovereignty of the archipelago was in question, are now caduque, after the ICJ judgment against Britain.
This choice of a venue would help remind all parties, including the Mauritian Prime Minister, of the need to close the base down altogether, and certainly not to just try to get dollars as rental money. Negotiations should be for a time-frame for closing down the base and assuring an ecological clean-up of the archipelago so that the whole archipelago can be inhabited by Chagossians, as part of the Republic of Mauritius with decentralized democratic institutions, and with all existing military base infrastructure converted to peace-time usage like meteorological work and ecological regeneration.
Concerning the meeting for negotiations, we support Olivier Bancoult’s request that the Chagos Refugees Group, now renamed, be present at the negotiations. LALIT also maintains that the aim of negotiations should be to come up with a time frame for base closure.
Instead, however, we are living in times of all dangers.
For the first time ever, a Mauritian Prime Minister may, in fact, be on the cusp of leasing Diego Garcia for 100 years, or in the language of political struggles, of “vann Diego”.
This was not possible for the pre-Independence Seewoosagar Ramgoolam regime to do, although until recently even quite respectable Mauritian politicians and journalists claimed Ramgoolam Senior did “sell Diego Garcia”, a claim that just happens to have pleased two generations UK and US leaders.
And just as there was a whole false narrative spread in the 1960s about a Russian take-over of Mauritius, including Mauritius supposedly according the USSR a “military base” at Vieux Grand Port, to justify stealing Diego Garcia for the military base and banishing the inhabitants of Chagos, now there is a déjà vu happening, when a whole false narrative is being spread about a Chinese takeover of Mauritius, supposedly being about to set up a base, this time the story is to cover for the UK-USA axis keeping Diego Garcia and the whole of Chagos. There is even with the same press collusion in the right-wing section of the British Press as there was in the 1960s.
LALIT takes note that, at the same time the most right-wing of all British newspapers, the Daily Mail, has launched a shrill campaign aimed at preventing the UK from negotiating at all with Mauritius over the return of Chagos including Diego Garcia. The aim is to build up a political head of steam strong enough to “trump” international law, or at least trump the USA’s feeble version of it called “Rules-Based International Order” as defined by the US military, also known simply as “RBO”.
This newspaper, the UK’s Daily Mail is now spearheading a campaign on the absurd, even imaginary, grounds that Mauritius is somehow already controlled by China or about to be so. The newspaper is doing this in tandem with an extreme-right-wing Conservative MP called Daniel Kawczynski. What is curious is that the whole episode is, as we mentioned, a déjà vu. Prior to the UK’s initial stealing of Chagos including Diego Garcia, a process that took place in the late 1960-s and early ’70s, a similar campaign was invented out of thin air in the UK. LALIT member, Ram Seegobin, remembers it well, when he first went to study in the UK. That time around, the press campaign was aimed at enabling the theft of Chagos, including Diego Garcia, in the first place. That time around, the absurd invention was that the USSR somehow already controlled Mauritius or would soon do so, “therefore” the UK had to steal Chagos, and hand over part of the stolen goods, Diego Garcia, to the Receiver of Stolen Goods, the USA.
Now, with the ICJ having pronounced the British occupation of Chagos illegal, and the General Assembly of the UN having given Britain orders to get packing, talks with the UK are about to begin on how the UK will surrender its illegal control over Chagos. The Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, while in the USA for talks on AGOA, will also be meeting with the US Administration, and Diego Garcia will no doubt be discussed.
Indeed it is a time of all dangers. All manner of possibilities of selling and selling-out are on the agenda.
When we refer to the British MP Daniel Kawczynski as “extreme-right-wing”, we mean it.
For example, in 2020, MP Kawczynski was present as orator alongside Europe’s main extreme-right leaders, including Hungarian extreme-right President Victor Orban, Italian politicians like present Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni with her Mussolini roots, Marion Maréchal-Le Pen, ex-Front National leader and now a leader of Reconquête. The British MP replied to criticisms in the Press and from his fellow Conservative MPs, who it is worth mentioning called for him to be kicked out of the Party for this, by saying Orban and Co. had “serious ideas and concerns”. So much for Mr. Kawczynski.
Here is the Daily Mail’s ridiculous article, published 7 December, beginning with its alarmist headlines:
“EXCLUSIVE: The UK/US diplomatic deal that gives China strategic foothold in Indian Ocean - yet NO ONE is talking about it. Agreement to hand archipelago over to Beijing-friendly Mauritius will land China in backyard of top US military base Diego Garcia
“The U.K. is negotiating with Mauritius about handing over the Chagos Islands
“The archipelago includes Diego Garcia, location of a key U.S. naval facility
“It has been involved in everything from Iranian hostage rescue efforts to air operations against targets in Iraq and Afghanistan
“The U.K. says it will ensure U.S. operations at the base can continue
“But U.K. and U.S. lawmakers say any change in sovereignty risks letting in China
“They ask: What is to stop a Chinese base being build (sic) on another island close by?
“China has deepened ties with Mauritius after signing a free trade agreement
“Republican Rep. Michael Waltz said he wanted to see a congressional review”
The article is worth quoting further, it is so condescending and colonial in its tone: “The Chagos Islands may be little more than specks in the middle of the Indian Ocean [edit: as one clump of dots says to another clump of specks], but they are at the center of a looming diplomatic row over a key American military base and the rise of Chinese power.
“Lawmakers on both sides of the Atlantic have raised fears that the British government's decision to begin negotiations to hand over the islands to Mauritius could allow China the chance to build its own military facility on the archipelago — right under the nose of American forces at Diego Garcia.
“The issue is one of the most important strategic locations in the Indian Ocean, from where U.S. B1 and B52 bombers can reach maritime chokepoints, vital sea lanes and even potential Chinese bases everywhere from Djibouti to Pakistan.” …
“But British MP Daniel Kawczynski is warning his American counterparts that handing sovereignty to Mauritius - with its deepening economic ties to Beijing - offers no guarantee that China won’t soon have its own base on the island chain.
“‘If you look at the amount of investment the Chinese have in Mauritius, I would argue that for all intents and purposes they control Mauritius,’ (sic) he told DailyMail.com.
“'They have a policy of hoovering up all of these islands in the South China Sea. ... the idea the Chinese are not going to take advantage of us giving up these islands is wrong.'
“He said he was writing to American colleagues to sound the alarm, and has called a debate at parliament's Westminster Hall next week.”
The Daily Mail then went on to say that, “Rep. Mike Waltz, ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Readiness, demanded an immediate review. “ ‘Since the Biden Administration gave away Bagram - a strategic airbase only a few hundred miles from the Chinese border and our only base situated between Iran, Russia, and China - the base in Diego Garcia is absolutely critical,’ he [Waltz] said.” … Waltz by-the-way is a well-known anti-China hawk in the right-wing of the right-wing Republican Party in the USA. It was he who paved the way for Trump’s anti-China campaign. He is a staunch anti-communist of the reds-under-the-bed type left over from the McCarthy witch-hunt. For younger readers, here is a fine Wikipedia definition of “McCarthyism”: it is the practice of making false or unfounded accusations of subversion and treason, especially when related to anarchism, communism and socialism, and especially when done in a public and attention-grabbing manner.
The Daily Mail article then returns to the British Conservative MP, saying, “He is campaigning for the talks [with Mauritius] to be halted so that former residents and their families can be properly consulted.” Who ever heard of the extreme-right caring two hoots about people like the Chagossians. He is better known for seeking out the company of rich Saudi businessmen.
Anyway, this proposal of his for a kind of referendum is, in any case, as LALIT has always warned, what could have, until recently, been the “Plan B” of the UK-USA alliance from Day One. But, bad luck, Mr. Kawczynski, it cannot be a “Plan B” anymore because meanwhile, the ICJ has rendered such a referendum illegal, if not plain straight ultra vires. It was always in bad faith.
Conclusion
There was much chatter about the Mauritius “Safe City” camera system bringing Mauritius “under the control” of China. Maybe the fear generated by the chatter was, in fact, why Sherry Singh got squeezed out as head of Mauritius Telecom: India, in its new military alliance signed up to under Trump’s USA, may have become strong enough to start to squeeze its competitor China somewhat, while gaining some foothold – again jointly with the USA – over Agalega. The MSM, though close to India, has always had close relations with China, as well.
And there is also the question of Maldives. It was opposing Mauritius in the battle against Britain for Chagos, but has since changed sides. This leaves the USA-UK team in the lonely position of being buttressed only by Victor Orban, Netanyahu and a somewhat reluctant Australia. There is, it is clear, a tug-of-war between India and China for influence in Maldives, too. And India, a nuclear state itself, is very far from its original stand on “Indian Ocean peace zone”. Those times are gone. It is a nuclear power. Its government is a right-wing nationalist one. It is in a Trump-Modi brokered military alliance with the USA.
At the same time, on 7 December, there was the first trilateral meeting at high level of AUKUS. The USA hosted the meeting and was represented by General Austin, himself, Secretary of Defense. Richard Marles, the Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence and Ben Wallace, UK Secretary of State for Defence were present at the Pentagon to discuss the Australia-United Kingdom-United States Security Partnership (AUKUS)
All this to say that Mauritius, and in particular Chagos and in even more particular Diego Garcia, has become like one of those squares on a chess board that, though innocuous-seeming, develop a crucial significance. Whoever controls it, the players believe, will “win”.
But, we are neither mere squares on a board, nor even chess pieces that others move. We must inform ourselves and be ready to act.
This is why we propose that the Mauritian Prime Minister assures that the agenda of any negotiations is about the time-frame for closing the base down and withdrawing from the whole of Chagos, and that the Chagossians are represented by the GRC, and that the venue be a place like Pelindaba that highlights the need for peace, not the acceptation of militarism.
