EU refuses to support Britain in island air base row
‘Taking this dispute to the court is inappropriate’
THE uK will be dragged before international judges to settle a decades- old territorial dispute, after Eu countries refused to give Britain their backing.
In a move that will be seen as a backlash against Brexit, nations across the bloc joined those abstaining from a vote on the uK’s claim to the Chagos Islands.
Its inhabitants have accused Britain of unfairly orchestrating a 50-year expulsion from the land in order to house an American military base.
After years of rejecting accusations led by Mauritius that the rule over the Indian Ocean islands is illegal, the uK will now be forced to answer to the International Court of Justice.
The Netherlands-based court has been asked to step in to the dispute after Britain was defeated in a vote by the uN general assembly. The resolution was backed by 94 countries against 15 who opposed it – a vote that might have been much closer had a further 65 countries not abstained.
Countries not taking part included the majority of the uK’s one-time Eu allies, including France, Germany, spain and Italy. Bulgaria, Croatia, Hungary and Lithuania were the only Eu nations to support Britain. Mauritian diplomat Jagdish Koonjul said: ‘The results are beyond my expectations. It’s interesting the Eu didn’t support the uK. Even some of the countries that supported the uK agreed this was an issue of decolonisation.’
The decision will be seen as an attempt to force the uK to accept decolonisation amid claims it has illegally prevented several hundred people from returning to the islands.
The court will now issue a legal opinion on whether the separation of the islands from Mauritius in 1968 is in breach of international law.
Islanders were evicted between 1968 and 1971 and a us military base was established on Diego Garcia, the largest of seven islands in the archipelago. Campaign groups have accused the uK of treating them as ‘undesired aliens’.
British Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said the uK stands by its sovereignty over the islands, which it renamed the British Indian Ocean Territory. He said the uK had agreed to return sovereignty to Mauritius whenever the islands were no longer needed for military purposes. A lease for the base was extended until 2036.
A Foreign Office spokesman: ‘Taking this dispute to the international court of justice is an inappropriate use of the ICJ mechanism.’