Island error

Given the General Election campaign, what has sadly gone largely unrecognised is the disgraceful failure of the UK to meet a Un-appointed deadline to hand the disputed Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean back to Mauritius.

The UK leveraged the islands away from Mauritius in 1965, when it was still a British colony, in return for £3 million and, Mauritius claims, independence, only to then team

up with the US and use some prime real estate on Diego Garcia to agree on building a joint military base, despite the fact that the island was already inhabited by 1,000 Chagossians.

Never mind this inconvenience, they were simply evicted between 1967-73, sent off to Mauritius and the Seychelles

1,400 miles away and have never been allowed back. Many of these have since moved to the UK. The UK’S actions will not have gone unnoticed by the other 116 nations who backed Mauritius’ claim to sovereignty over the islands earlier this year, with only six opposing it.

Particularly after the Brexit vote, contributing to the UK’S

international reputation falling, the UK’S traditional allies in the international community have started to desert Britain, to abstain or to vote against it at the UN. The UK no longer has a judge on the 14-seat International Court of Justice in The Hague, and it’s going to start to see UN maps reflecting the legal fact that the UN sees this islands as belonging to Mauritius.

With the UN General Assembly, the UN High Court and 116 nations opposing this illegal occupation, the Brexit-bamboozled British Government must do the right thing and right one of the wrongs of history

ALEX ORR Marchmont Road, Edinburgh