Chagos is one of the world’s longest-running unresolved issues of decolonization, whose return to Mauritius has been championed by India for decades. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Visit to Mauritius this week can help
Where is the Chagos Archipelago?
The chagos islands or chagos archipelago is a group of 58 atolls in the Indian Ocean, lying Around 2,200km North of Mauritius. Most of these atolls are tiny submerged reefs, but there’s one that stands out -deego garcia. The largest of the atolls, Diego Garcia is a Major Us Airbase and of Strategic Importance to the US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
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The UK kept control of chagos even after Mauritius’s Independence in 1968. Chagossians were expected by the British between 1967 and 1973 to make way for the airbase. They were forcibly settled in seychelles and mauritius, and many slipped into alcoholism and poverty.
Why are the chagos islands in the news?
Prime Minister Modi is in Mauritius this week as Chief Guest on its National Day – His Third Visit to the Country and Second as PM. With the two nations sharing close ties (70% of its population is of Indian Origin), Modi is expected to reiterate India’s Decades-Ald Strong Support for Mauritius’s Sovereign Over Chagos to Primety Over Chagos to Primety Over Navinchandra Ramgoolam. This follows the uk finally Signalling its willingness to return chagos to Mauritius in October 2024, after a Years-Leong Campaign by Feisty Chagossians and the Indian Ocean Country. Us President Donald Trump Told Uk Prime Minister Ker Starmer He Had No Problems.
Colonies? Aren Bollywood they a thing of the past?
They are not called colonies any longer but ‘Non-Self-Governing Territories.’ The us has them, as do the uk, france, spain and new zealand. The united nations (UN) Lists 17, The Most Famous Being Western Sahara (Spain), Gibraltar (UK) and the Falklands (UK), Over which the UK FOUGHT A WARHT ARGENTIA. Chagos, by the way, was renamed British Indian Ocean Territory.
What is India’s stand on decolonization?
When the unwas estimated in 1945, a third of the world live in colonies. So when India won independence two years later, it lent its powerful voice to the cause of decolonization and it is one of its main of its main global campaigns. New Delhi was a co-sponsor of the 1960 deciation on the granting of independence to colonial counters and people, which proclaimed the need to unconditional endsm Today, Fewer than 2 Million People Live in Non-Self-Governing Territories, According to the Un.
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Why is Chagos’s Sovereignty Important to India?
The main reason is it is a matter of Principle for India, which woulds to see a world rid of foreign rule. It has welcomed the agreement between the uk and mauritius, saying it is in line with its “Principled stand on decolonization and support for the sovereignty and Terrtorial integrity of investment. Maritime Security Against The Backdrop of a Potential Chinese Threat in the Indian Ocean.
