East Africa: Critical high court hearing may decide fate of Chagos Islander

A High Court hearing beginning tomorrow, 6 December, could decide the fate of the Chagos islanders, the community removed from their homeland by British authorities so the United States could build a military base. The islanders, some of whom have travelled from Mauritius, will be organising a demonstration outside the Royal Courts of Justice to highlight their case. The islanders are challenging the British government's declaration last year that they had no right to live in their island homeland. The initial removal from their homes was declared unlawful in a landmark High Court victory in 2000, leading the government to promise they could return to at least some of the islands. However the government stalled on even allowing visits, and in 2004, using a power described as a little-used colonial relic, it declared the islanders had no right to live in their homeland.