UN’s top court to mull Chagos islands fate

THE HAGUE: International judges will hear arguments Monday to examine the fate of the Britishruled Chagos Islands, home to a strategic joint US military base – now claimed by Mauritius.

In a diplomatic blow to Britain last year, the United Nations adopted a resolution presented by Mauritius and backed by African countries, asking the International Court of Justice to offer an advisory opinion on the island chain’s fate.

For four days next week, the Hague-based ICJ will listen to arguments presented by 22 countries including Mauritius and Britain. The African Union is also expected give an opinion.

The ICJ will then give a final opinion on the matter, but its ruling is not binding on the parties.

Discussions will centre around the consequences of Britain’s separation of the archipelago from Mauritius in 1965.

Mauritius declared independence in 1968 and argues that it was illegal for London to break up its territory while still under colonial rule.

As the Cold War with the former Soviet Union intensified, Britain established a combined military base with the US on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands.

Mauritius said London “unlawfully dismembered” its territory by declaring the Chagos Island group a “British Indian Ocean Territory”, thereby reducing Mauritius in size.

Britain in the early 1970s also resettled the archipelago’s residents – some 2,000 in total – on Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for the base.

Set up in 1946, the ICJ rules in disputes between countries, but it can also give non-binding advisory opinions to UN bodies such as the General Assembly.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres last year asked the ICJ’s 15 judges to rule on whether the “process of decolonisation of Mauritius was lawfully completed” after Chagos was split off.