|
Expelled islanders await Britains next move
POINTE AUX SABLES, Mauritius - Elianee Siatous still recalls the day a British official said her Indian Ocean homeland had been sold and she would be sent into exile hundreds of miles away. Along with 2,000 others, Siatous was forcefully expelled by Britain from the Chagos archipelago in the 1960s and 1970s to make way for a US airbase on Diego Garcia, one of the islands.Exiled from the coralline islands lying halfway between Africa and Indonesia, the Chagossians were dumped hundreds of miles away on the shores of Mauritius and Seychelles. Last month a British High Court ruling rekindled hope amongst the islanders that going back might be possible. After a long legal battle the court ruled that special measures taken to block their return were unlawful, paving the way for compensation and a right to go home. Britain has until Thursday to appeal against the ruling. Posted by: Steve White 2006-06-06 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=155071 |