London: Bernadette Dugasse was just a toddler when her family was forced to leave her birthplace. She didn’t get a chance to return until she was a grandmother.
Dugasse, 68, has spent most of her life in the Seychelles and the UK, wondering what it would be like to
set foot on the tropical island of Diego Garcia, part of the remote cluster of atolls in the middle of the Indian Ocean called the
Chagos Islands.
Like hundreds of others native to the islands, Dugasse was kicked out of her homeland more than half a century ago when the British and US governments decided to build an important military base there.
After years of fighting for the right to go home, Dugasse and other displaced islanders watched in despair Thursday as the UK government announced it was formally transferring the Chagos Islands’ sovereignty to Mauritius.
While political leaders spoke about international security and geopolitics, the deal meant only one thing for Chagossians: That the prospect of ever going back to live in their homeland now seems more out of reach than ever.
“We are the natives. We belong there,” said
Dugasse, who has reluctantly settled in Crawley, a town south of London. “It made me feel enraged because I want to go home.”
Entire population evicted
Dugasse was born on the Chagos Islands, which had been under the administration of Mauritius, a former British colony, until 1965, when Britain split them away from Mauritius. Mauritius gained independence in 1968, but the Chagos remained under British control and were named the British Indian
Ocean Territory.