Diego Garcians win fight to win back island home

[sharklet]

Diego garcians have just won thier court battle to say the British Governemnt acted inlawfully in evicting them from thier island home to make way for a US military base on the British Territory.

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4760879.stm

\link{http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4760879.stm\BBC News story}

Helps if the link works!

I for one am really glad this has happened. Its completely unfair that these people were expelled from thier home and scattered across thousands of miles to be rehomes in other countries. Then pretty much abandoned by the british governement who wanted the land to build a US airbase. I hope they get thier wish to return to thier home.

I had a look sharklet. It's great this decision has gone in their favour but it looks like a long haul ahead to actually get to live there again.
Best of luck to them. It's a shameful story.

Hugely long haul to get them back - but its a good positive step in the righ t direction. At the moment its only visitable by permitted military members. Not even families of the men and women serving there are allowed to visit or be with them while they are based there.

The natives have been recently allowed a short visit back - some of them - but its not enough at all.

I htink its awful.

Why, FGS? Am not exactly a fan of military bases at the best of times, but what is so precious about Diego Garcia?
Loved the way the settlement some islanders got in the 60s and 70s was described as very generous by eminent British lawyers. Talk about "You would say that, wouldn't you"

Its becasue its a tiny tiny atoll in the middle of absolutely no-where. Its full of munitions storage areas with goodness knows what stored there so no infa structure to support families and no space for it. Although saying that aparently one half of the island/atoll is a nature reserve full of crocodiles and rain forest. Too expensive for them to create an infastructure for families - obviously no scheduled flights there so military would have to fly the families out there. People go there to escape batty wives etc.