The UN’s top court yesterday started to hear arguments on the future status of the British-ruled Chagos Islands, home to a strategic joint US military base, but a territory claimed by Mauritius.
Port Louis opened four days of hearings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a case brought by the UN over the Indian Ocean archipelago, which has been the center of a dispute for more than five decades.
In a diplomatic blow to Britain, the UN General Assembly in June last year adopted a resolution presented by Mauritius and backed by African nations asking The Hague-based ICJ to offer a legal opinion on the island chain’s fate.
Photo: AP
The ICJ’s 15 judges are to listen to arguments on the “legal consequences of [Britain’s] separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius” in 1965, shortly before Port Louis’ independence from its colonial ruler.
The African Union and 22 countries — which includes the US, Germany and several Asian and Latin American nations — are to make statements during the four-day hearing.
After the hearings, the ICJ is to hand down a non-binding “advisory opinion,” but the judges’ ruling might take several months or even years.
An opinion in favor of Mauritius might strengthen Port Louis’ hand in negotiations or could lay the foundation for an eventual formal claim before the ICJ — set up in 1946 and which also rules in disputes between countries.
Mauritius, which declared independence in 1968, argues that it was illegal for London to break up its territory while still under colonial rule.
Britain detached the islands from Mauritius, then a semi-autonomous British territory, using decolonization talks as leverage and paying ￡3 million (US$3.86 million at the current exchange rate) for them at the time.
As the Cold War with the former Soviet Union intensified, London established a combined military base with the US on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands.
The Indian Ocean base plays a key strategic role in US military operations.
In the 1970s, it offered proximity to Asia during the fall of Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) and the Khmer Rouge takeover in Cambodia, and as the Soviet navy extended its influence in the region.
In recent years it has served as a staging ground for US bombing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Britain in the early 1970s also evicted the archipelago’s residents — about 2,000 in total — to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for the base.
A UK diplomat in a cable at the time described it as the removal of “some few Tarzans and Man Fridays,” and islanders have not been allowed to return since because of security reasons.
Last year’s vote before the UN whether to refer the matter to the ICJ was also seen as a test for Britain’s ability to rally support from fellow Europeans at the world body, a year after its shock vote to leave the EU.
The matter was passed 95-15, with 65 abstentions — most by European member states, including France, Italy and Spain.
London, ahead of yesterday’s hearings, pledged to mount a “robust defense,” saying that the move was bound to hurt relations with Port Louis.
Mauritius on the other hand, said it wants to “eliminate colonialism” and that its independence would not be complete without getting back the Chagos Islands.
However, Port Louis did say it recognized “the existence of the base and accepts its continued and future functioning in accordance with international law.”
ECONOMIC WORRIES: The ruling PAP faces voters amid concerns that the city-state faces the possibility of a recession and job losses amid Washington’s tariffs Singapore yesterday finalized contestants for its general election on Saturday next week, with the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) fielding 32 new candidates in the biggest refresh of the party that has ruled the city-state since independence in 1965. The move follows a pledge by Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財), who took office last year and assumed the PAP leadership, to “bring in new blood, new ideas and new energy” to steer the country of 6 million people. His latest shake-up beats that of predecessors Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) and Goh Chok Tong (吳作棟), who replaced 24 and 11 politicians respectively
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
A US federal judge on Tuesday ordered US President Donald Trump’s administration to halt efforts to shut down Voice of America (VOA), Radio Free Asia and Middle East Broadcasting Networks, the news broadcasts of which are funded by the government to export US values to the world. US District Judge Royce Lamberth, who is overseeing six lawsuits from employees and contractors affected by the shutdown of the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), ordered the administration to “take all necessary steps” to restore employees and contractors to their positions and resume radio, television and online news broadcasts. USAGM placed more than 1,000
RSS