After almost forty years of moral anguish, the Chagossians have finally been granted the right to visit their native archipelago. 102 members of the islander community living in Mauritius and the Seychelles since their displacement in the 1960s boarded the Mauritius Trochetia last Thursday on the way to their lost paradise. By now, they must have reached the archipelago for the short four-day – but so intense – visit on the three islands. They will spend one day on each of the islands - Solomon, Peros Banhos and Diego Garcia - where the memories of the good old days will probably grip their souls.

If emotion could already be felt days before D-Day, it reached its peak when the ship left Port-Louis with those on board, their white handkerchiefs in their hands, leaving their 500 compatriots on Quay D. As places were limited on the Mauritius Trochetia, the whole community could not take advantage of this historic journey… down memory lane. But they are so happy that some have been able to make it that the feeling of having won part of a long heartrending struggle exceeds the sadness of not being on board.


Notorious secret agreement

Even though they do not have specific plans, all the travellers seem to have the same aim: seeing again the places where they or their parents used to live happily at the time. Visiting the sites of their past lives, the graveyards where their ancestors rest… Because, since the day when they were forced to leave their homeland, most have never got over it.

Even those who have never been there before can’t hold their excitement. Many are going in memory of their late parents who told them so many stories about the place. “In a certain way, they are doing this trip with me as well”, says one Chagossian, showing a picture of his dead parents.

“They stole my roots, they stole my soul, they even took my dignity away”, reveals another. Each time they remember their displacement, the emotion that can be felt is almost unbearable. Since that sadly notorious secret agreement between the British and the US authorities that forced the Chagossians to leave their archipelago to allow the Americans to set up the major military base, they have never recovered. They were sent to Mauritius or the Seychelles without being asked if they wanted to when what they just wanted was maybe “fishing to survive” at home.

In this elated and emotional context, there is however, no room for resentment and sadness. Hence, the handshake of reconciliation between the two rival leaders, Fernand Mandarin of the Comité Social des Chagossiens, and Olivier Bancoult of the Group Refugiés Chagos, appeared just like a must… and they made it. They have even agreed to leave their differences aside and work together to obtain the right to live on their islands for good.


Hope to start again in their homeland

Their courage in fighting against all odds has finally led them to this trip but, although it is a major victory, this has never been their ultimate aim. What the Chagossians have always asked for – and today more than ever – is the right to go back to their islands once and for all. Start their lives again in their homeland. Of course, this will not be easy but the life they have led so far in Mauritius or in the Seychelles has not been easy as well.

After the short-lived happiness of the announcement in 2000 by the London High Court that the Chagossians’ displacement from their archipelago was illegal – hence they could go back to their islands – the Orders in Council signed by Queen Elizabeth II in June 2004 washed away their hopes. These orders prohibit them from living on their islands forever…

They are now hanging on to their last hopes… The GRC is challenging the 2004 Orders in Council back in the High Court and the ruling should be given soon… And the Chagossians will know for good whether their rights, trampled upon 38 years ago, will finally be restored. They will then know if they will have the right to finally… be happy!