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Diego García and Falklands in the same 'claim basket', anticipates Chagos leader

Saturday, April 5th 2014 - 02:51 UTC
Full article 59 comments

The leader of thousands of displaced Chagos islanders fighting Britain for a return to their Indian Ocean archipelago (Diego García) has said they will wage a joint diplomatic battle alongside Argentina as it seeks sovereignty over the Falklands, according to a report from The Telegraph credited to Hannah Strange. Read full article

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  • paulcedron

    “The day will come when all those responsible (the british) are going to have to answer for the crimes against humanity which they committed.”
    well, said mr olivier.

    “Unlike the Falklands, which have never been inhabited by an Argentine populace,...”
    according to brainwashed british historians.
    lol

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 03:20 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • La Patria

    A lot of people, myself included, will agree that what happened to the Chagos Islands was wrong, even a British Court agreed.
    A big difference here is the ability to admit to making mistakes, but would that happen in Argentina? The decision to start a war was obviously a mistake but is there any regret from the echelons in Argentina?
    No, the decision to start a war is celebrated and a street is even named after its date.

    I understand why the Chagos Islanders may want to link up with Argentina, Timmerman probably told them he was representing the country's indigenous people who had their land taken away from them as well.

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 03:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Vulcanbomber

    i notice paul once again refers to the argentine history book, the one that children are brainwashed with from birth, rather than the history of the world as the rest of the world see's it.

    The Falklands were claimed long before Argentina existed as a country.

    The only argentine presence on the islands have been via permission or by invasion, neither hold any value

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 06:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Monkeymagic

    Paul

    Please tell me when and who were an Argentine population on the islands...?

    Please also tell me who are the “indigenous” population of Diego Garcia? How does one become indigenous?

    Thanks in advance

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 07:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • BioDiplomacy

    On 3 April I posted the following comment on the Daily Telegraph website about their story ( note that the author did NOT talk to Olivier Bancoult, though she says she tried to):

    “The source of this strange story is given as: ” he told the Argentine state news agency Télam“. I would like to know why the deputy foreign editor of the Daily Telegraph trusts the accuracy of any account by the state news agency of a country whose President has a long track record of wishful thinking and inventiveness on the subject of the Falkland Islands. I have not seen the date of the Télam story, but it would not surprise me if the date were 1 April. Whether the creator of this seasonal calendrical hoax was a Borgesian Argentine anglophile or a gifted UK journalist is the only element of uncertainty in my mind. ”

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 07:20 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Furry-Fat-Feck

    The Chagosians won't be doing themselves any favours signing up to Argentinas' spurious cause.

    The Chagosian cause is just and well supported. It is also irrelevant to the Malvinista cause because technically it is an argument for two wrongs making a right.

    Pinning the Chagosian flag to the Malvinista flag will lose them an awful lot of support.

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 07:45 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • HansNiesund

    I suspect the key words here are “he told the Argentine state news agency Télam ”

    Otherwise it's an utterly bizarre move on Bancoult's part to be throwing his weight behind the only country in the world that simultaneously dreams of a repetition of Britain's behaviour while loudly condemning it, especially when two successive British governments have admitted the wrong of it, and moves are underway to correct it.

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 08:16 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • CaptainSilver

    Paul, you cant prove that, otherwise Argentinas bogus Falkland claims would have been settled at the IJC long ago. When you invaded the UN told you to get out in a binding resolution - what does that say?

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 08:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Anglotino

    So Bancoult supports Argentina's position? Which means he supports Britain's past actions!

    Or he supports the Falkland Islander's right to self determination and keeping their homeland? Which means he supports Britain's current actions!

    You CAN'T support Argentina's position AND the Chagossians. They are opposite positions.

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 08:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • HansNiesund

    On the other hand, it's nice to see Argentina supporting the rights of small island populations. Not before time.

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 08:48 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Leiard

    If you have got the time the following report is worth reading.

    “An evaluation of - ‘Returning Home’ – A Proposal for the Resettlement of the Chagos Islands”

    Read the conclusion on page 29

    http://pages.bangor.ac.uk/~oss005/CCT_Howrep_final.pdf

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 09:00 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • LEPRecon

    The point is that every single bit of fresh water has to be imported into Diego Garcia.

    So how are these Chagosians going to support themselves? Or do they expect the British taxpayer to pay for their keep?

    I have no problem with them - I would say returning - but most of those who 'want' to return have never actually set foot on the Islands, having the islands. But they should buy them off the British, as the British are the rightful owners.

    The Chagosians were workers. They never so much as owned a blade of grass, let alone any land or even the houses that they lived in.

    Failing that, they should pay rent to the British for living on the islands. If they expect the British to import all that fresh water for them to drink, then the rent will have to take that into account, and be quite high. I doubt the Chagosians could afford that.

    But the cynical part of me believes this to be a money making scheme by these 'Chagosians' hoping to guilt the British into giving them lots and lots of money, so they can sit around an not have to work.

    Well, there is a part of me that says, let them return. No financial aid (after all it's British land bought legally off the previous owners), and see just how long the Chagosians last. About a week, maximum a month.

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 10:33 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Clyde15

    With rising sea levels the islands will be under water by the end of this century. What then ? Will they take us to the ICJ for marooning them on an unsupportable land. More money please ?

    according to brainwashed british historians.
    lol

    #1
    At least British historians HAVE brains which appear to be sadly absent from their Argentine counterparts.

    LOL TO THE NTH POWER !!!!

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 10:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Steveu

    @10 interesting report - it just shows how hard it would be to build a new airport - short runway and crosswind landings from what can be some pretty vicious winds in the monsoon season.

    I have to also agree with comments @11 - this is potential gravy train fuelled by human rights lawyers who would be happy to turn this into a cause célèbre in return for a nice fat fee.

    Anyone who was an adult during the migration would be close to 70 now. From where will the specialist geriatric provision come that will surely be required in future years? Personally, my oft stated view would be to transfer sovereignty to Mauritius and let the Chagossians and Uncle Sam deal with them. It has been nothing but a poisoned chalice for the UK

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 10:46 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • BioDiplomacy

    HansNiesund's comments at 08:16 today are sensible. Can anyone provide the full text and timing of the original Télem story? A group of friends of the Chagossians were sent this email on 3 April by the Chair of the UK Chagos Support Association:
    “I would be very clear Olivier statement were on Chagos not Argentina,
    Many Thanks
    Sabrina
    On behalf of Olivier Bancoult”

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 12:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • paulcedron

    12
    “So how are these Chagosians going to support themselves? Or do they expect the British taxpayer to pay for their keep?”

    britain should indemnify them for all the damage the uk has done.
    guess that amount should be enough to live without any problem.

    now you are right about being concerned for the british taxpayer.
    they already have the big burden of supporting the kelpers.

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 05:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Clyde15

    #16
    They got paid already. Ask the Mauritius government what they did with the money and take them to court.

    Not a burden, it's worth much more just to annoy Argentina and people like you. WE ARE KNOWN FOR OUR SENSE OF HUMOUR !

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 05:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Conqueror

    @2 I don't agree. And you are a fool if you do. Never mind all the history, tell us the location of the sources of fresh water. The sources of fresh water that would enable these “chagossians” to live. Come on, let's hear it. No fresh water, no indigenous “chagossians”. Do yhou have a genetic need to be “guilty”? The people on the islands were the responsibility of the Mauritian company that owned the islands. Britain bought the islands. Nothing, and no-one, else. The British government gave the Mauritian government money to resettle the islanders. The Mauritian “government” did nothing and pocketed the money. Forget it, Bancoult. You can return if you wish. If you don't mind the yanks shooting you.
    @6 Wrong!
    @10 Don't be ridiculous.
    @11 Didn't read the entire report. The conclusion is inescapable. Put the “chagossians” back on the islands and they will die. All of them. Perhaps we should do it. Then sit offshore and film them dying.
    @14 “Anyone who was an adult during the migration would be close to 70 now.” There were between 2,000 and 3,000 between 1967 and 1973. and now there's 3,000? How's that? Sounds like a scam!
    @16 Let me explain. Britons can afford less than £2 per person per year to protect honest, hard-working, progressive people against larcenous, mendacious, deviant “things” in argieland. Who would want slime on the Falkland Islands? Notably, Britain has already given these slimy “chagossians” millions of pounds. Just out of the go0dness of its heart. The “chagossians” want somewhere to live? Let them go to the open arms of argieland. Isn't that the first thing “compassionate” argieland should offer?

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 06:12 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Lord Ton

    The Mauritians from the Chagos have lost all but one of their cases against the British Government and that was overturned on appeal. There is no similarity to the Falkland Islands who are listed as a NSGT by the UN with a right to self-determination.

    Any link between the Chagos Mauritians and Argentina is more likely to dramatically reduce the sympathy they currently have in the UK.

    One should be carefull who one gets into bed with !

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 06:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Briton

    Olivier Bancoult
    first off, hand back all the money all you guys were given first.
    still
    as you have spent it all, and now crawling up CFK dress hoping for some droplets, you will get the same as Argentina,
    no no and no again,, Soddy offy, you despicable little corrupt man..

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 07:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • La Patria

    @18
    I don't think you understood the sarcasm in the last sentence of my comment

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 09:51 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Rich_Martin

    Comment removed by the editor.

    Apr 05th, 2014 - 10:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • BioDiplomacy

    Irrespective of attitudes to the substantive issues, I find language like “crawling up CFK dress... ” abusive. Don't you?

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 12:30 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Be serious

    I've seen worse. But getting back to the point I can't find any similarity between Diego Garcia and the Falkland Islands apart from the fact that they are Islands.

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 07:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • LEPRecon

    @24 Be serious

    Indeed, there aren't any similarities.

    The Chagos Islanders were not indigenous people. They didn't come over to settle the land, like the Falklanders did.

    The were employed as plantation workers. They never owned any of the land, any property, and not even so much as a blade of grass.

    There is insufficient fresh water on the islands, so all of it was imported by the plantation owners (who were French). Now the plantations began to fail - too much competition from elsewhere, and the cost of importing fresh water was impacting on profit margins. There were unsustainable.

    So the French owners looked around for a buyer. Realising that the islands were in a strategic location, the British bought them.

    Now, the workers were unemployed. The British didn't want the plantations. So they relocated all the workers to Mauritius (where they all came from anyway), and paid the Mauritian government wads of cash to help settle these people. The Mauritian government pocketed the cash, and these people got nothing.

    So the British repaid the compensation directly to the people AND they ACCEPTED it. That should've been the end of it.

    The Falklands are different though. The people who live and work on the Falklands OWN the land. It has fresh water, and they are self-sufficient.

    So there are no similarities at all.

    The Chagosians will rue the day they ever got into bed with the Argentines. Talk about a massive own goal.

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 08:36 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Livingthedream

    It is a historical fact that the British wanted a colony in South America.
    It is a historical fact that the British attempted twice to occupy Buenos Aires for the purpose of creating a British colony. When their attempts failed, they turned to the Malvinas Islands in 1833 and through out their legitimate settlers and implanted their own.
    If you go into my house and throw my family out and move your family in does not make the house yours!

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 12:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • paulcedron

    26
    exactly
    the worst thing is that britain did not do that sh*t only with argentina but with 3/4 parts of the world.

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 01:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • malen

    19 Lorton: if this approach bothers you, it is the correct one.
    the more weak weak together to help each other.

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 01:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Biguggy

    @26 and 27
    The British did not expel any settlers in 1833 just the illegal garrison who took their dependents with them. Even the RGland government website:
    http://cancilleria.gov.ar/es/history
    now admits this:
    'Once order had been restored in Puerto Soledad, on 3 January 1833 a British Royal Navy corvette, with the support of another warship in the vicinity, threatened to use greater force and demanded the surrender and handover of the settlement. After the expulsion of the Argentine authorities, the commander of the British ship left one of the settlers of Puerto Soledad in charge of the flag and sailed back to his base. In 1834, the British Government assigned a Navy officer to remain in the islands, and only in 1841 did it decide to “colonize” the Malvinas Islands by appointing a “governor”.'
    The disturbed order that was restored was the mutiny by some of the UP garrison who murdered their commanding officer and raped his wife in front of her children. Order was restored not by the remainder of the garrison by British and French sealers working in the Islands. That happened in November 1832 before the arrival of the Clio and Onslow on 2nd January 1833.

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 03:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • golfcronie

    @26
    That is precisely what Argentina tried to do in 1982, is it not?

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 04:18 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Conqueror

    @23 Not sure. I wouldn't want to do it. I'd rather shove a pike up it!
    @26 It is a historical fact that the British DISCOVERED the Falkland Islands 126 years BEFORE argieland existed. It is a historical fact that in 1806 and 1807 Buenos Aires belonged to Spain. And that Britain was at war with Spain. It is a historical fact that argieland has never had a legitimate settler anywhere anytime. Not once. Buenos Aires - stolen. Patagonia - stolen. Everywhere between - stolen. Tierra del Fuego - stolen.
    Who did you steal “your” house from? How does a raping, paedophile bigamist get “a family”?
    @27 And your problem is? You tried to do the same and FAILED? Who told you it was okay for you to sail across 6,000 miles of ocean, invade another continent, kill most of the people and pretend you have morals and religion? Who told you it was okay to force the remaining people to dig gold and silver out of the ground so you could ship it back to where you came from? At least Britain gave as well as took. It gave law and order. As Britain progressed, it gave steam power, railways, electricity, education. and what did you give? Religious mumbo jumbo and a different form of slavery. Which indigenous people do you educate to the point where they can become doctors, lawyers, politicians?
    @28 Your problem is that you don't have the mental capacity to recognise your guilt. Your “country” is virtually indistinguishable from nazi germany and stalinist russia. You have some territory that you STOLE whilst MURDERING the inhabitants. If we were to adhere to 20th/21st century moral behaviour, we'd take the lot of you and lock you away for 100 years. Or kill you. Can't think why we'd want to spend money for 100 years for bread and water. Maybe water, bread and strychnine spread?

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 04:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • paulcedron

    31
    and who told you i have something in common with the conquistadores?
    on the other hand, all that thing you are describing was done by britain too.
    and in a much larger scale.

    britain did not give a sh*t to this country.
    they rather took everything they could.
    the malvinas between those things

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 05:23 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Vulcanbomber

    paul, sometimes you really are a twat.

    How can some islands be taken from a land that does not exist.

    Think you need to sort your own country out before trying to colonise other coutries.

    At the same time, think Chile and others want some of their land back

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 06:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • golfcronie

    @32
    What is your ancestry, Mapuche, Kolla,Guarani or Wichi?

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 06:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • screenname

    Can't really see how the opinion of this lackey of the Mauritius government really matters, but I'd be interested to see how many votes president Olivier Bancoult got...

    Since Mauritius and Diego Garcia were not inhabited until a few hundred years ago, can we assume their attitude to the Falklanders means they do not believe in self determination for themselves either and will be handing total control of what is currently their own islands back to the UK?

    Hypocrites or just mentally deficient...you decide.

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 07:07 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Briton

    23 BioDiplomacy
    @23 Not sure. I wouldn't want to do it. I'd rather shove a pike up it!

    Bet you find that offensive as well,

    Do us a non offensive favour,
    Either live in real world,
    Or please return to the monastery,
    [no offence was intended in making this reply. ]

    ..

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 07:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Clyde15

    #26
    If you go into my house and throw my family out and move your family in does not make the house yours!

    Got it in one ! So why are YOU trying to steal someone's house when YOU have no right to it. You colonised what is now Argentina by ex appropriating it from the indigenous population.
    Isn't your miserable country big enough for you ?

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 07:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • José Malvinero

    If the matter of the crimes of the queen of England with respect to the island of Diego Garcia had not come to light, articles written so cynical as it, is not even written.
    It says “were removed” as if things were things and not people, when in fact they were tortured , terrorized , they killed their pets , they cut their basic food supplies in order to they left for their own “initiative”. As they did not succeed , the hauled down and out like cattle. As the Supreme Court of Justice of England ruled in favor of the Chagossians , mobsters ( the British) attended a charter from the Middle Ages ( the Stone Age ) they removed the galley when something does not go according to plan and backed by the mafia smiling queen of England, were prevented from returning to the present day. (Clear that if today would be back with a great runway fraught with B-52 bombers of the uncle (or fader of the Englishmen) Sam and be confronted by all sides with deposits of nuclear armament. The island is no longer what it was! Is the price of the policy , no? Incidentally, England declared protected area as a reserve . can you be so cynical ? Everything any way to prevent the return of its authentic inhabitants, paradoxically , were the ones “ infected ” atmosphere. Did not uncle Sam to wanted the island ”clean and disinfected”? Well, then the British mobsters the disinfected. Incidentally, the island disinfected departed missions bombers to other conflicts invented to keep disinfecting elsewhere...
    MALVINAS ARGENTINAS FOR EVER.

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 10:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • nololly

    Hi Josey! What are you on? Are you sure you did the right mix on your Mate?

    Where can I get some? Lol !

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 10:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • José Malvinero

    39

    Find out a bit cynical asshole!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_Zlr_4xYh0&feature=player_embedded#!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_Zlr_4xYh0&feature=player_embedded#!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_Zlr_4xYh0&feature=player_embedded#!

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 10:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • nololly

    Josey, if you think I am stupid enough to click on any links provided by you think again!

    Enjoy your drink/smoke/injection or whatever. Lol!

    You are powerless, how does it feel… ?

    Apr 06th, 2014 - 11:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • José Malvinero

    More:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJQp4yydxvc

    Apr 07th, 2014 - 02:51 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    38, 40, 42, Hose- eh

    You're a bit fooked- up, ain't ya???

    Apr 07th, 2014 - 03:30 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Anglotino

    Seems like someone even more incompetent that usual is using José's login.

    Apr 07th, 2014 - 04:33 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Clyde15

    #42
    Come on, be fair he only posted a video from the unbiased malvinasargentinas blog spot. What could be more unbiased than that ?

    Apr 07th, 2014 - 10:42 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • José Malvinero

    45

    Idiot, the video is published by the excellent Argentine http://malvinasislasargentinas.blogspot.com.ar site but the video is PIRATE. Gil.

    Apr 07th, 2014 - 11:03 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Clyde15

    #46
    What are you on about ?
    The video clearly shows in the top corner the logo... http://malvinasislasargentinas.blogspot.com.ar/

    If you read what I said ....“ he only posted a video from the unbiased malvinasargentinas blog spot.” IS THIS AN UNBIASED BLOG SPOT ?
    Did I say that you had MADE the video ? NO!
    It is in Spanish for an Argentine audience, so what is your point ?

    I gave up after 30 seconds as it was in Spanish so I lost interest as I knew what it was bound to say.

    Apr 07th, 2014 - 12:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • José Malvinero

    The fight has just begun until the final return of the Chagossians to their land.
    The English mafia know exactly who put “governor” in the Malvinas Islands Argentines. A “democracy” of the Malvinas Argentinas they put a authentic “native” of Argentine Islands:

    http://malvinasislasargentinas.blogspot.com.ar/2014/03/los-chagosianos-contra-el-futuro.html

    Apr 07th, 2014 - 02:14 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • HansNiesund

    @48

    José, you'll be pleased to know that the Falkland Islands Government plan to offer the Chagossians an island of their own choosing from the several hundred available in the archipelago.

    I'm sure you'll be very happy that those you care about so deeply have been accommodated in this manner.

    Apr 07th, 2014 - 04:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • José Malvinero

    What happened with the self-determination as proclaimed with garbage that inhabits our Malvinas Argentinas?

    Of course considering that Malaysia Airliners Flight 370 may have been hijacked and landed in Diego Garcia, means that the British and their American cousins ​​are a much more dangerous mobsters who they seem and the Chagossians are going to see extremely difficult .. .:

    http://www.mdzol.com/video/525759-en-detalle-la-misteriosa-isla-diego-garcia-la-del-malaysia/

    Apr 07th, 2014 - 04:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Troy Tempest

    50 José Makebelieve
    Of course considering that Malaysia Airliners Flight 370 may have been hijacked and landed in Diego Garcia, means that the British and their American cousins ​​are a much more dangerous mobsters who they seem and the Chagossians are going to see extremely difficult .. . ”

    You're crazy - everybody knows it's aliens that did it.

    Apr 07th, 2014 - 06:48 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Clyde15

    #50
    I will refrain from the obvious already covered by#51
    Do you really believe that the Chinese would not know if the Malaysian Airliner had landed at Diego Garcia.
    Their spy satellites cover the globe and what the Americans have based there is of primary interest to them. So they would have to be in on the act. Likely ?
    No doubt you believe it. You actually believe the Falklands belong to Argentina. That is even MORE fanciful !

    Apr 07th, 2014 - 08:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Pete Bog

    @51
    What happened with the self-determination as proclaimed with garbage that inhabits our Malvinas Argentinas?
    1/-Bermuda
    2/-Tristan da Cunha
    3/-St Helena
    4/-Pitcairn Island
    etc etc etc

    Oh and Scotland are getting a referendum.

    Hope your friends in Catalonia get the self determination they want too

    Apr 07th, 2014 - 09:28 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Martin Woodhead

    The chagos islanders were dumped on and the UK did wromg by them if they had been white it would never have happened.

    Apr 08th, 2014 - 10:02 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • ilsen

    I love it when jose gets himself all worked up!

    Jose we will never tolerate Argie aggression against the Falklands.

    You are not getting then. Not now, not just ever.

    You should really devote your energy towards something achievable.

    Apr 08th, 2014 - 11:41 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Bongoose

    @54 “The chagos islanders were dumped on and the UK did wromg by them if they had been white it would never have happened.”

    Canard alert

    There is a great comment @ 25:

    ”The Chagos Islanders were not indigenous people. They didn't come over to settle the land, like the Falklanders did.

    The were employed as plantation workers. They never owned any of the land, any property, and not even so much as a blade of grass.

    There is insufficient fresh water on the islands, so all of it was imported by the plantation owners (who were French). Now the plantations began to fail - too much competition from elsewhere, and the cost of importing fresh water was impacting on profit margins. There were unsustainable.

    So the French owners looked around for a buyer. Realising that the islands were in a strategic location, the British bought them.

    Now, the workers were unemployed. The British didn't want the plantations. So they relocated all the workers to Mauritius (where they all came from anyway), and paid the Mauritian government wads of cash to help settle these people. The Mauritian government pocketed the cash, and these people got nothing.

    So the British repaid the compensation directly to the people AND they ACCEPTED it. That should've been the end of it.

    The Falklands are different though. The people who live and work on the Falklands OWN the land. It has fresh water, and they are self-sufficient.

    So there are no similarities at all.

    The Chagosians will rue the day they ever got into bed with the Argentines. Talk about a massive own goal.”

    Do any of the idiotic malvinatroids commenting here want to answer it?

    Apr 11th, 2014 - 04:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • ilsen

    No they don't because they have no claims.

    Apr 12th, 2014 - 02:04 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Cristina Fernandez

    The Chagos Refugees Group used to have my support until I read this nonsense. A bad move on their part as it will not get them any where but only alienate those in the UK who were on their side? silly billies.

    Apr 13th, 2014 - 01:25 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Pete Bog

    @58
    Agreed-siding against the Falkland Islanders hardly justifies their case, and I am withdrawing my support until they wake up.

    I am sure many people in the UK support their return to somewhere in the Chagos group and with the compensation they have already received they should be able to make buildings that will catch the rainfall, which I understand on one of the Islands is substantial.

    However if they side against other people that wish to remain under British protection, I'm out.

    Apr 13th, 2014 - 05:22 pm - Link - Report abuse 0

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