In the heart of the Indian Ocean, in an archipelago of paradise islands called Chagos, lived the Chagossian people. It might sound like the beginning of a beautiful fairy tale, yet the story of the Chagossians was one of the most tragic pages in the history of British colonialism. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Chagossian population numbered about 1,500, mostly coconut farmers and fishermen. They led a poor but serene life, unaware that the British and Americans had begun negotiations to build an American military base on their islands, in Diego Garcia.

At the end of the secret negotiations, the United Kingdom decided to separate the territory of the Chagos from the former colony of Mauritius (1965), forming the British Indian Ocean Territory and thus allowing it to retain control of the land on which the American base would be built. However, there was a problem: the presence of the Chagossians was an obstacle to the security of military activities that had to remain secret. In fact, the base also became a key point of departure in American bombing raids in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as the site of interrogations.

Between 1968 and 1973, British colonial officials brutally deported the Chagosians. They were loaded onto small ships, crammed into the holds like slaves and forcibly taken to Mauritius, where they were left on the streets with no money and extremely poor living prospects.

For decades, the Chagossians fought against the United Kingdom in numerous legal battles for their right to return to their paradise islands. In 2019, almost 70 years after the deportations, the International Court of Justice in The Hague finally ruled that Britain was guilty of failing to comply with international law. However, the UK ignored the ruling and retained control of the islands and the base.

Today, Diego Garcia is still a strategic US military base and the Chagossians continue to fight for their rights. This is perhaps one of the most brutal, yet least known episodes of recent British colonialism.

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