"However elegant and memorable, brevity can never do justice to all the facts of a complex situation.  But life is short and information endless; nobody has time for everything."  - Aldous Huxley

Ever wonder what happened to the people who use to live and work at the Plantation?  Well, the quick answer is they were shipped out in the fall of 1971.  But, as with all seemingly simple answers, there lies a long and heavy story.  If you are truly interested in the details of the Ilois since 1962, you should spend a few hours reading the Appendix to the 2003 High Court of Justice (U.K.) ruling, and the 2006 Judgment by the England and Wales High Court, which detail hundreds, if not thousands, of facts about the creation of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and the US base on Diego Garcia, the events leading up to and the "resettlement" of the Ilois as the plantations closed, and their historical and current claims and desires.  I'll try to summarize here, but this explanation will, of course, satisfy no one...

The Ilois (a French-Creole dialect word meaning islanders), also called "Creoles des Iles" and more recently "Chagossians" are the descendants of East African slaves.  Based on certain social practices, such as the "Sega Party" and linguistic vestiges, these slaves are generally considered to have come originally from what is now Mozambique.  As always in mobile (whether voluntary or involuntary) populations, there was certainly an admixture of other races.

Although there is no universally accepted definition of Ilois, it seems to be generally agreed that they are those with an enduring tie to the Chagos archipelago, primarily by birth or marriage.  Since 1964, The UK, Mauritius, and The Seychelles have attempted to determine how many Ilois there are, but the number varies from 2,000 to 5,000, depending on additional criteria, such as birth prior to the creation of the BIOT, or birth in Mauritius (or elsewhere) after the 1971 BIOT Immigration Ordinance, which made it unlawful to enter the BIOT without a permit.

There was no indigenous population in the Chagos, which, along with the other islands of the Indian Ocean, appears to have been missed in the Austronesian Diaspora which populated Madagascar.  In 1785 & 1786 both the French and British attempted to settle Diego Garcia, and the French began marooning lepers there about the same time.  However, it wasn't until 1793 that a successful French colony was established, bringing with it the slaves who would ultimately become some of the ancestors of the Ilois.  England obtained Diego and the Chagos Archipelago (along with Mauritius and the Seychelles) in 1814, and subsequently abolished slavery there in 1834.  Following a six year period of "apprenticeship" to their former masters, the former slaves became free men and women in 1840.

Individual freed slaves and their descendants certainly migrated out of the Chagos, but there is no question that some stayed or returned, and became the ancestors of contract workers for the various commercial enterprises on Diego Garcia and the Chagos Archipelago (now known as the British Indian Ocean Territory) for the next 130 years, until their expulsion in 1973.

During the entire period of continuous civilian habitation (1793 - 1973), the land of the islands was owned by various commercial enterprises, primarily those operating coconut plantations.  These businesses were granted "concessions" first by the French, and then by the British Colonial Government located in Mauritius (until 1965 when the islands' administration was moved to the British Colonial Government in the Seychelles).  At no time did anyone living on the islands actually own a home or a piece of property there.  Even the managers of the plantations were employees of absentee landlords.  The other employees (i.e., the Ilois) are reported to have owned their personal possessions, but lived in what in the USA is called "a company town" with assigned housing.

The freed Ilois were allowed to leave their employment and seek work or travel elsewhere, and a sort of migrant farm worker culture developed out there on the islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean.    By law, these contracts were for one year at a time, and required witness by a Magistrate, although visits by administrators to formalize these contracts were often few and far between, and employment was informally continued until such a time as the contracts could be ratified.  In the 1900s there are some records of contracts for two years.

There were never any self-sustaining individual commercial enterprises (such as family farms) or independent or communal farming or fishing communities in the Chagos.  With the exception of the marooned lepers, It is safe to say that every adult who has ever lived in the Chagos for any period of time was a "contracted employee" of an agribusiness, it's associated commercial enterprises, a coaling station, or a government.  For example, a detailed census in 1964 showed a total population in the Chagos of 963 (including children) of whom only 3 adults were unemployed.

This employee status included the attempted colonizers from the East India Company, the Ilois, plantation managers, priests, visiting colonial administrators, law enforcement officials, even the current resident multi-national force of military members, government employees, and associated contractors.  The employer has always been an "absentee landlord" with headquarters elsewhere.

Another defining characteristic of the Ilois was their farm laborer status.  As has been pointed out repeatedly by Ilois spokespersons, the Ilois had limited education and technical skills, and when ultimately evicted from the Chagos, had virtually no ability to adapt to even the non-industrial economy of Mauritius.

Although during the Coaling Station period (1882-1888) some laborers were imported from Somalia, India, and China, for the entire period of the non-slave "Plantation Era" (1840 - 1973) the vast majority of the population of the Chagos were Creole farm laborers from the British colonies of Mauritius and the Seychelles.  Although many  worked for some period and moved back to their home islands, there were many (no one knows for sure how many) who were born in the Chagos (i.e., the Ilois) who generally remained in the islands and identified themselves as Creole des Iles.

There is abundant evidence that there were never more than about 1,000 people in the Chagos at any given time during the Plantation Era.  It is well documented that there were 426 Ilois families who left the Chagos for Mauritius between 1965 and 1973 (both voluntarily and involuntarily).  Census-type surveys taken during those years generally showed a 40/60 split between adults and children - the predominance of children would indicate a family-structured society among the Ilois.  This split would imply that some 2,100 people (850 adults and 1,250 children) could be considered Ilois displaced by the closure of the Chagos, which began in 1965 with the creation of the BIOT.  However, during that period, the highest population recorded in the Chagos was 924 in 1967, of whom only 487 were Ilois.  On Diego Garcia, there was only one (an elderly woman) who had been born on the island and who had never left.  Therefore it is clear that the Ilois population, although strongly identifying now with the Chagos, was highly nomadic with about 1/2 (1,000 out of 2,100) of the Ilois population residing outside the Chagos at any given time.

Both Mauritius and the Seychelles were obtained from France by Great Britain in the Treaty of Paris in 1814, which ended the Napoleonic Wars.  They were governed together from Mauritius until 1903 when the Seychelles became a separate Crown Colony.  The Chagos archipelago had been administered by the French from Mauritius while it was a French possession, and following British control continued as a "Lesser Dependency" of the British Colony of Mauritius until 1965.

In 1962, the Chagos Agalega Company, Limited, based in Mauritius, bought up the existing plantations and commercial enterprises throughout the Chagos from the various Mauritian companies that owned them.  The entire Chagos became a "company town" for Chagos-Agalega.

In 1964, the UK and the US began talks which led in 1966 to an "Exchange of Notes" agreeing to the use of the Chagos for defense purposes for up to 70 years.  One must remember that this was at the height of the Cold War, and the outcome was by no means certain as evidenced by the spread of communist insurgencies in Latin American, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Horn of Africa, and Southeast Asia generally.  The US had no bases between the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Thailand, and desired an Indian Ocean base to counter the increasing Soviet naval presence in the Indian Ocean and Southwest Asia.  In addition, the independence movements of Africa were also threatened by communist influences, and the 'non-aligned' status of the Indian sub-continent did not appear 'non-aligned' at all to the west.  Fiscal realities in the UK led it's leaders to welcome American fill of the void following the UK military withdrawal "East of Suez."

The US was deeply concerned with stability and security for it's possible operations in the Indian Ocean area, and had asked the UK for use of an uninhabited island for defense uses, thus avoiding potential future political issues of sovereignty and anti-western sentiment.  At the time the UK believed that the population of the Chagos was indeed a transient contracted work-force, and could be removed and re-employed elsewhere with minimum trouble.  Based on that assumption, the US then requested, and the UK agreed, that when required, the UK would  terminate commercial enterprises in the Chagos and resettle any population within six months of a request to do so.

As a direct result of the negotiations leading to this agreement, the British Colonial Office recommended in October 1964 to detach the Chagos from Mauritius to enable the development of the defense facilities free from interference by a future independent Mauritius, which, because of it's 70% Indo-Mauritian majority population was expected to align with the country of India, which was increasingly aligned with the Soviet Union in those days.

In 1965, the US formally requested the detachment as well, and on November 8, 1965, the UK created the BIOT.  Administration of the BIOT was moved to the Seychelles, the upcoming independence of Mauritius (in 1968) mitigating against any attempt to continue long-term administration from Port Louis.

However, the UK belatedly became aware of the existence of a semi-permanent Ilois population in the BIOT, and realized that the removal and re-employment of contract workers was going to evolve into a messy re-settlement of what for all intents and purposes was an indigenous population.

Concern about the political reaction in the UN and the region over an involuntary removal of the population of the Chagos consumed the UK's Colonial and Foreign office planning for the BIOT for the next 7 years.  On several occasions the UK asked the Americans to reconsider their requirement that Diego Garcia and/or the entire Chagos be depopulated, but the Americans insisted on fulfillment of the original agreement.

As the true nature of the depopulation of Diego Garcia and the other islands of the Chagos became apparent, the UK estimated the cost of resettlement to be about 10 million Pounds (about $175 million in 2006 dollars).  At the same time, the US discounted the sale of Polaris Submarines to the UK, in what in generally considered to be a quid pro quo regarding the BIOT resettlement issue.

The UK then developed various strategies to resettle the Chagos population in Mauritius and the Seychelles.  Evidence found in the various recent court decisions in the UK shows that the British desired to keep the plantations on Perhos Banos and Salomon open (at least through 1989) and pay generous compensation to displaced workers in exchange for their renouncing rights as BIOT "belongers."  However the repeated American demands for the depopulation of the entire archipelago nixed the first, and fiscal stinginess the second.

In anticipation of the eventual depopulation of at least Diego Garcia, on April 3, 1967, the British government purchased the land, buildings, and all other interests belonging to Chagos-Agalega for 660,000 pounds (about $11.5 million in 2006 dollars), thus becoming the sole land-owner in the Chagos.  The Crown immediately leased back the properties to Chagos-Agalega, but that company terminated the lease at the end of 1967.

Beginning about this time, workers who left the islands for Mauritius were often not re-employed - for example in May 1967 roughly twice as many Ilois tracing their roots to Mauritius left Diego Garcia as arrived under contract (44 arriving adults vs. 82 departing), while the number of Seychellois under contract increased.

In 1968, the UK granted Independence to Mauritius, and since the monthly supply ship (MV MAURITIUS) for the Chagos was 2/3 owned and operated by the Mauritian government, and the other third was owned by Rogers and Company, partners also in Chagos-Alagela, and their being no further reason to support what was no longer a "Lesser Dependency", the BIOT administrators secured resupply via ships (ISLE OF FARQUHAR and MV NORDVAER) operating from the Seychelles.

With no direct regular transportation to Mauritius, the number of Seychellois workers grew, until they outnumbered Ilois and Mauritian workers three to one or more.  As early as 1967 for example, on Diego Garcia there were 35 Ilois men, 38 women and 93 children (again, illustrating a family-oriented life style), and just 10 Mauritian workers. By contrast, the Seychellois comprised 172 men, but only 53 women and 102 children, indicating a 2:1 preponderance of single, male workers amongst the Seychellois.

In January 1968 the former Chagos-Agalega manager, Paul Moulinie, created a new management company in the Seychelles (Moulinie and Company Limited) and took over management of the plantations on behalf of the British government, in exchange for 8% of the gross sales.  Although a contract or lease was never signed, this management arrangement continued through the end of the Plantation Era in 1973.

The Ilois were slowly but surely removed from Diego Garcia, and finally from the entire Chagos.  The last ship from Diego Garcia left on October 15, 1971, ending 178 years of civilian occupation of the island.  All but eight of the families on Diego Garcia were resettled on plantations on Perhos Banos and Salomon islands.  The eight families chose to continue on to Mauritius.  Schemes for resettlement of the Ilois on Agalega Island, and on Mauritius, were complex and should be read in the Court documents.  The Mauritian Government, the UK, Moulinie and Company, and a world decline in copra prices all share in the debacle that evolved.  The bottom line is that they were incomplete when the last ship from the Chagos departed Perhos Banos on 27 April 1973.

Primary among the UK's strategies for resettlement of the Ilois and other contract workers was obtaining the concurrence of the governments of Mauritius and the Seychelles.  They did so primarily in the form of payments for concurrence.

In 1966, the Government of Mauritius agreed to accept 3 million pounds (about $52 million in 2006 dollars) for the detachment of the Chagos to form the BIOT.  In 1968, Mauritius was granted full independence, and almost immediately began using it's territorial claims to the Chagos and the poverty of displaced Mauritian Ilois as leverage to obtain additional concessions from the UK.  In 1972 the Mauritian government accepted and additional 650,000 pounds (about $6.7 million in 2006 dollars) as payment to resettle the "Mauritian" Ilois in Mauritius.

The government of the Seychelles eventually settled for the construction of an International Airport costing 4.1 million pounds (about $60 million in 2006 dollars) for the detachment of the Chagos (which was also claimed by the Seychelles) and the return of the contracted Seychellois.

The Ilois were given the latitude to choose their ultimate destination during the closure of the BIOT.  The Seychellois appear to have strongly identified with the Seychelles, and they returned (including those with families) to the Seychelles.  These primarily recent additions to the matrix of workers in the Chagos received no individual compensation for re-settlement, but apparently were re-absorbed quickly into mainly Afro-Seychellois society, assisted by a competent British administration there (the Seychelles did not become an independent nation until 1976).  The re-integration of the Ilois into Seychellois society was so successful that attempts to organize the Seychellois Ilois for political and legal action against the UK and the US along the lines of the Mauritian Ilois have never attracted enough attention to bear fruit.

The "Mauritian Ilois", including those who did not identify with any other place besides the Chagos, were returned to Mauritius.  Their reception and integration by and into the primarily Indo-Mauritian society contrasted sharply with the experience of the Seychellois Ilois.

For various reasons, from their unskilled worker status, to the general overpopulation and impoverishment of the island, to racial segregation (often cited in Ilois testimony in British Courts recently) many Ilois did not adapt to life in Mauritius, and descended into poverty and depression.

Beginning in 1975, various Ilois individuals and groups began agitating for additional compensation.  Not until 1977 & 78 did the Mauritian government pay out the 650,000 pounds provided by the UK for compensation in 1972, with it did in devalued Mauritian Rupees.  In 1982, the U.K., responding to lawsuits by Ilois for additional compensation, contributed a further four million pounds (about $18.3 million in 2006 dollars) for distribution directly to the Ilois as a "final" settlement for any claims in the Chagos.  The Mauritian government supposedly chipped in one million pounds worth of land (for resettlement), and the Indian government added one million Rupees.  The Ilois Trust Fund Board, composed of Mauritian government officials and representatives of the Ilois, was established to disburse the funds.

As time has shown, this was not enough and the distribution of the money that was available was constantly complicated by requirements to sign "renunciation" forms, proper identification of Ilois, set-asides, and claims of skullduggery on the part of the Mauritian government and intellectuals.

How much compensation would have been enough?  We'll never know.  The politics of the resettlement, the delays in disbursing the funds (and then in devalued currencies), the desire of some Ilois groups to reclaim the BIOT as their own, combined with Mauritian territorial claims, have forever obscured the issue.

However, had the money provided by the UK for the Ilois (the 650,000 pounds of 1973 and the four million of 1982) simply been distributed evenly amongst the 426 displaced families who had valid claims of belonging to the Chagos, and for whom it was intended, each family would have received $72,800 (the value in 2006 US dollars).  Would that have been enough?

Consider that the wages for labor on Diego Garcia in May of 1967 were 25 Mauritian Rupees per month for men and 10 Rs for a woman.  At the time, a Mauritian Rs was worth 1 shilling 6 pence, making a man's wages about $32 per month in 2006 US Dollars and a woman's about $13 per month.  A husband/wife plantation worker team in the Chagos would have had to work for 135 years to earn that $72,800.  No matter how you calculate it, that $72,800 dollars would have gone a long way to resettling, re-educating, and integrating the Mauritian Ilois into Mauritian society.

But there have been numerous, substantiated claims that the money was mis-spent, that the Ilois Trust Fund  Board was corrupt, and that the political motives of the Mauritian government worked against the Ilois.

For example, as mentioned above, the 650,000 pounds paid for resettlement in 1972 was not paid until 1977 and 1978, and then it was paid in devalued Mauritian Rupees.  In addition, instead of being paid to just the 426 families who had been displaced since 1965 (and thus had legitimate claims regarding involuntary resettlement) it was also divided between 169 families who had voluntarily left the Chagos before the re-settlement scheme was even contemplated, and thus had no legitimate claim to compensation.

The distribution of the 1982 funds provided by the UK was made amid Ilois claims of fraud, impersonation, and even payments made to dead people.  According to these claims, the money was paid out without the Mauritian government even attempting to positively identify Ilois status.  To date, it still hasn't been paid out fully.  The government of Mauritius still maintains an "Ilois Welfare Fund" to "support" the Ilois using the remainder of funds provided by the British & Indian governments 25 years ago.  Instead of distribution to Ilois families, the money is today spent to maintain and manage "community centers."

The land "money" promised by the Mauritian government was originally enough for a 5-acre parcel for each Ilois family (more than enough for a subsistence farm with commercial potential).  However, it was derailed into schemes proposing the start of coconut plantations, tea farms and the like to employ the Chagossians as farm laborers, then finally offered years later as assistance in buying a house.  The final offer was for Rs 36,000 per family ($8,700 in 2006 US dollars), most of which went unclaimed, as by that time inflation in the housing market on Mauritius made the amount only a fraction of what was required for a home purchase, and the Ilois families could not come up with the balance, or float a loan.  Even if it all had been claimed, it amounted to less than 1/3 of the Mauritian Governement's original promise of one million pounds.

The Mauritian government's sovereignty issue regarding the Chagos was kept alive at the expense of the Ilois.  For example, Mauritius insisted, and the UK & US agreed, that 200 of the contractors for the US base be from Mauritius.  Numerous claims have been made that this agreement excluded Ilois, although in 1987 there was at least one Ilois in that Mauritian work force on Diego Garcia, and his presence was trumpeted by the local US Navy television station at the time.  Nevertheless, the Ilois claim that they were excluded from the "deal" is essentially valid.  Although virtually none of the Ilois had suitable technical or language skills for the majority of jobs available, there was (and is) unskilled work available (janitorial & house-keeping, food service, grounds maintenance, etc.), and had Mauritius insisted on providing employment for Ilois, dozens if not hundreds of jobs would have been available, which instead went to non-Ilois Mauritians and Filipinos.

The claimed fraudulent management of the 1982 compensation funds intended for the Ilois, and the idea that the proffered compensation from the UK was "too little, too late," resulted in the formation of the The Chagos Refugee Group (CRG).  Among other concepts, the CRG believed that the Ilois had been betrayed by the Mauritian government and intellectuals - that the government of Mauritius had "sold out" the Ilois for the eventual regaining of Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos.

Almost immediately, one of it's founders, Oliver Bancoult, began agitating for additional compensation from both the UK and the US, both in the form of additional money, and the right of the Ilois to return to the Chagos, and immigrate to the UK as full British citizens.  By the late 90's Bancoult (who had left the Chagos as a boy in 1965) gained ascendancy in the CRG and adopted the name "Chagossian" for the Ilois, claiming Ilois was a disparaging racial slur in Mauritius.

In 2000, following a media blitz bringing the Chagossian issue to the British public's attention, Bancoult brought suit against the UK to be permitted to return and resettle in the Chagos.  As of September 2007, the British case had not been resolved, having been appealed by the government to the Law Lords in the House of Lords (the UK's equivalent of the US Supreme Court).  In two rulings lower courts have found that the Chagossians have the right to return to the Chagos, although not to Diego Garcia.

In 2001, Bancoult brought suit against the US, claiming 'genocide' and seeking six billion ($6,000,000,000.00) dollars in damages.  The US Appeals Court rejected the claims in 2006, and this decision was upheld in 2007 by the US Supreme Court refusing to hear additional appeals of this case.

Bancoult appears to be tireless in his quest for return and compensation.  In May 2007, Bancoult demanded the UK build the infrastructure on the various Chagos islands to permit resettlement.  In June 2007, he demanded additional compensation from the UK, and also announced opening a case before the European Court of Human Rights, demanding the right to return to Diego Garcia (which the UK Courts have consistently said would not be permitted).  He has also been quoted to be seeking compensation from the US Congress.

In 2001, a new Chagossian group with a clearly different agenda was started.  The The Diego Garcian Society is headed by Dr. Allen Vincatassin, who's grandfather was from Diego Garcia and played a major role in obtaining compensation from the British Government in 1982.  The DGS' stated goal is to get the Chagossians out of their slums in Mauritius and settle in the U.K. as citizens (which they are).  To date "hundreds" of Chagossian families have immigrated to the UK, settling in and around Crawley in West Sussex.  There is another website for those Chagossians in the Crawley area:  The Chagos Island Community Association.

Dr. Vincatassin states that this group recognizes that the old plantation life-style, as well as the infrastructure the Chagossians knew before their expulsion, is long-gone, and although the old-timers may still want to return (after 40 years in exile, they are indeed old-timers), the future of the Chagossians is brightest as integrated citizens of the UK.

The DGS is also involved in the UK Courts, suing for the right of the Chagossians to begin receiving social welfare benefits immediately upon arrival in the UK (rather than waiting the required three months before becoming eligible).  The British High Court rejected the claims in 2006, and the case has been appealed to the Court of Appeal.

According to the New Statesman (Oct 4, 2007), Bancoult accuses Vincatassin of "selling out".  To fully understand the relationship between the Bancoults and Vincatessins, one should read the history of the 1982 compensation distribution, and the parts played by Bancoult and the CRG and the Vincatassin family... this appears to be an old dispute.

We tend to focus almost exclusively on the leaders of various movements.  For example, so far in this essay, I've only mentioned four individuals.  Granted that they play important roles in the recent history of the Chagossians, it really is the individual Chagossian who has been affected by the BIOT expulsions, and will benefit from the legal and practical steps taken by the CRG and DGS on their behalf.

However, it is probably appropriate to note, in the context of this essay, that the CRG leadership appears to seek power over the Chagos and all that is implied by it's resettlement, while the DGS appears to seek to empower individual Chagossians as British citizens.  Which will prove most appropriate for righting the wrongs done to the Chagossians by the UK, US, and Mauritian governments?

I'll step completely out of the dispassionate reporter role for just a moment and say that anything that empowers individuals is preferable to being a cog in someone else's dream of power and leadership.

On with the essay.  Over the decades, other Chagossian individuals and groups have sought additional compensation, return to the Chagos, and/or the expulsion of the UK and US from the Chagos.  Some commentators have identified these smaller, more radical groups as pawns of the Government of Mauritius in it's continuing quest for sovereignty over the Chagos.

As with any other political movements, "outsiders" (i.e., non-Chagossians) also formed various groups with differing visions of the future of the Chagos and the Chagossians.  Some of these include the Swiss Society on Behalf of The Chagossians, the UK Chagos Support Association, the Chagos People's Homeland Campaign, the Ilois Trust Fund, and the Chagos Conservation Trust.

On June 30, 2008, the Law Lords are scheduled to hear the UK government's appeal.
 
 
 

For an extreme left wing recounting of the events, be sure to watch this:

"Stealing A Nation" - You'll need high speed to watch this - it's an entire movie.  John Pilger's stunning political commentary of the Chagossian Expulsion from Diego Garcia.  Absolutely fascinating.  Of course, since Mr. Pilger has decided to be overtly political, I will be too - this is a very one sided presentation.  But brilliant and tear-jerking.

Want the perfect example of how to enslave, starve and isolate an entire people?

There is a group called The Chagos People's Homeland Campaign which is a UK front organization for the supporters of Oliver "the Americans are genocidal maniacs" Bancoult.  They have published  "Returning Home; A Proposal for the Resettlement of the Chagos Islands."  This plan proposes to plop 1,000 people on an island of about 375 acres and build them the infrastructure they require (including homes) for 25 million pounds over 5 years.  Whoever wrote this has no idea what is required to house, feed, and care for 1,000 permanent residents, nor the costs of asphalt, generators, transportation, fuel, or basic rations delivered to one of the most remote sites on the planet.  The report seems proud of the fact that it did not use any engineering consultants, and the result is an moronic mish-mash that will turn the Chagossians into slum dwellers with inadequate power, water, sewer, food, education, jobs, and futures.  For God's Sake, they are even proposing to require licenses for the islanders boats!  Will it be an Orwellian Island, or Huxley's Brave New World?  Either way, you can bet the Chagossians will be treated like cattle.  For a rational rebuttal of Howell's buffoonery, see the CCT's "An evaluation of ‘Returning Home’ – A Proposal for the Resettlement of the Chagos Islands (Howell Report)".