Diego Garcia stays a darkish British-American secret within the Indian Ocean

When the governments of Mauritius and the UK issued a joint declaration initially of this month that they’d “reached an historic political settlement on the train of sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago” after a half-a-century lengthy dispute and two years of direct negotiations, Joe Biden reportedly went “as far as to ‘applaud’ [the agreement] inside minutes of the announcement!”

America president has each motive to be happy.

In spite of everything, in keeping with this much-lauded settlement, British rule over the Archipelago’s 60 or so small and uninhabited islands will come to an finish, however there might be no change within the standing of its major and most southerly isle, Diego Garcia, which is internet hosting an enormous, secretive US Navy base.

As a part of the settlement, Mauritius, which gained independence from Britain in 1968 after abandoning its declare to sovereignty over the Chagos, agreed that it could permit the US base to proceed working on Diego Garcia for the subsequent 99 years – renewable. Below the deal, Chagossians, who had been exiled from the archipelago within the Sixties and Seventies to make means for the US base, are allowed to return to the smaller Chagos islands – however they’re nonetheless not permitted to entry Diego Garcia freely or resettle there.

Whereas the deal won’t fulfill the United Nations, which has lengthy been calling for the “full” decolonisation of the Archipelago, or Chagossians, who wished to “return dwelling” with none situations or exclusions, the White Home is understandably relieved that an settlement has been reached between the UK and Mauritius that enables the US to maintain the navy facility it has been utilizing for greater than 50 years.

Diego Garcia is situated in the midst of the Indian Ocean, strategically positioned between Asia and Africa. The bottom could also be 1000’s of miles from Washington, however it’s inside flying distance of the Center East, and it has supplied the US with necessary leverage throughout many crises threatening US pursuits in and round that area.

After Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution which overthrew the Shah and redrew the worldwide map of alliances, for instance, Diego Garcia underwent the most important enlargement of any US navy location for the reason that Vietnam Warfare. However the base has been the busiest within the instant aftermath of al-Qaeda’s September 11 assaults on the US in 2001. Inside weeks of the assaults, the bottom expanded additional and welcomed an extra 2,000 Air Power personnel.

Throughout the subsequent so-called “battle on terror”, tons of of people had been captured, transported world wide and interrogated in secret prisons below the auspices of the CIA, however with out authorized oversight. We now know that Diego Garcia additionally performed a task on this euphemistically named “extraordinary rendition program”.

For years, nevertheless, each American and British officers denied that the bottom ever hosted, even in passing, any “battle on terror” detainees.

When questioned by members of parliament in 2004, then UK International Secretary Jack Straw acknowledged that “the US authorities have repeatedly assured us that no detainees have at any time handed in transit via Diego Garcia.” In a 2005 dialogue, he additional claimed that “except all of us begin to consider in conspiracy theories (…) there merely is not any fact within the claims that the UK has been concerned in rendition (…).”

Nonetheless, in 2007, Dick Marty, a former Swiss prosecutor appointed as an professional by the Council of Europe, reported that he had “acquired concurring confirmations that United States companies have used the island territory of Diego Garcia (…) within the ‘processing’ of high-value detainees”. Just a few months later, UN particular rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak, revealed that he too had obtained proof that Diego Garcia was used for the “detention” of “terror” suspects.

In early 2008, former CIA Director Michael Hayden stated data beforehand “provided in good religion” to the UK had “turned out to be flawed”. The US expressed remorse for this “administrative error”. The British authorities needed to admit that the assurances given by Straw had been incorrect and conceded that “two flights had refuelled at Diego Garcia, although neither suspect had disembarked”. Later, nevertheless, it grew to become apparent that the island performed a way more important position in this system, and the UK knew all about it.

When the intelligence committee of the US Senate investigated additional the involvement of the island naval base within the “extraordinary rendition program”, UK diplomats held greater than 20 conferences with Senate members to foyer for any British position to not be disclosed. The categorised Senate report nonetheless discovered that the US abduction and torture programme was established with London’s “full co-operation”.

Later, determined to keep away from any accountability over the matter, the UK International Workplace claimed that paperwork exposing British information of the practices on Diego Garcia had been misplaced as a result of “water injury”. The Liberal Democrats, a British political opposition occasion, nevertheless, stated they discovered proof that the federal government itself had systematically destroyed flight logs for Diego Garcia. The authorized motion NGO, Reprieve, jeered that “the Authorities would possibly as effectively have stated the canine ate their homework.”

Whereas the European Court docket of Human Rights has convicted a number of of its member nations for colluding in enhanced interrogation methods involving torture at “black websites”, neither the American nor the British justice system has prosecuted a single particular person for his or her actions.

Diego Garcia’s uniquely distant location has enabled the US and its British landlord to protect their operations from the worldwide public eye for many years. The territory, below British sovereignty, remained a logo of continued colonialism within the area. And the US base there harmed not solely Chagossians, who had been forcefully evicted from their properties to make means for it, however everybody who has been affected by the West’s actions within the aftermath of 9/11.

Thus, opposite to the official narrative, the current UK-Mauritius deal doesn’t uphold “the worldwide rule of legislation” and mark a victory for Chagossians – it slightly permits the veil of secrecy to maintain unprosecuted the wrongdoings dedicated in the course of the “battle on terror”. The settlement, irrespective of how it’s dressed and introduced, additional erodes Western credibility and underlines the shortcomings of diplomacy in reigning within the excesses of predominant powers.

The views expressed on this article are the creator’s personal and don’t essentially mirror Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.