You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

Residents of Chagos Islands, Removed for U.S. Base, Not Allowed to Return Home

HeadlineNov 18, 2016

Britain says residents of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean who were forcibly removed for the construction of a U.S. military base in the early 1970s will not be allowed to return home—despite four decades of organizing by the displaced residents who are demanding the right to return. In addition to serving as U.S. air base, one of the islands, Diego Garcia, has also played a critical role in the U.S. extraordinary rendition program. This week, the British Foreign Office minister said instead of the right to return home, the Chagossians will be offered 40 million pounds in compensation over the next decade. She also said the U.S. will be allowed to keep its military base on the island.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top