Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of “weakening Britain’s national security” by surrendering the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Speaking to GB News, Chagossian Vanessa Mandarin hit out at the Prime Minister for “giving away her homeland”, declaring her community does “not feel protected” in the UK.
The surrender deal, signed in May, saw Sir Keir hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
As the Chagossian community descended on Westminster to protest the deal, Ms Mandarin told GB News: “The Government is wrong for giving away our homeland to Mauritius without consulting the Chagossians.
“The self-determination and the British people in general, British Indian Ocean territory, the Chagos Islands, belong to Britain, and we want to remain British.”
Criticising Mauritius as a “corrupt” country, Ms Mandarin said: “The majority of British Chagossians want to remain British. At the moment, what Keir Starmer is doing is giving away our homeland and UK contributions, billions, to a corrupt country like Mauritius.
“He’s weakening our national security, because the UK and US, they are friends together. In terms of the UK national security, we don’t feel protected. We don’t feel protected in the UK.”
She added: “If our military base, Diego Garcia, is going in the hands of a small country like Mauritius who don’t have any resources to protect their own environment, how they will protect their own people and environment? We don’t trust Mauritius. Mauritius is a corrupt country.
Chagossian Vanessa Mandarin has accused Keir Starmer of ‘giving away’ her homeland and ‘weakening Britain’s national security’
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GB NEWS
“I’ve been to Mauritius, I’ve been targeted all of my life. All the Chagossians who are here today, they fled Mauritius because they’ve been persecuted, they were harassing them in Mauritius.
“That’s why they fled Mauritius to seek protection in the UK, and then we have a Government who doesn’t protect their own citizens.”
Joining Ms Mandarin at the Westminster protest, broadcaster and former First Minister of Northern Ireland Arlene Foster threw her support behind the Chagos community.
She told Chief Political Correspondent Katherine Forster: “I was very pleased that the House of Lords voted for four out of the five amendments, so that will now go back to the House of Commons.
The Prime Minister insists handing over the islands is in Britain’s best interests | Reuters/GETTY
“Originally, the third reading of the bill was to be today, but it’s not now taking place to next Monday, the 12th of January. And I’m hoping that the Government are listening to the voices, not just in the House of Lords, but the Chagossians here today.”
She said: “They have a right to self-determination that has been denied to them. We’ve heard over the past few days a lot about the rights of the Greenland people to have their own right to self-determination. I absolutely agree with that.
“So why are we not allowing these people to have their rights of self-determination?”
Making clear their right to self-determination is a “human right”, Mrs Foster told the People’s Channel: “It’s not just us that are concerned about that, the United Nations Committee on Racial Discrimination have also expressed grave concerns as late as the 8th of December that these people have not been given their rights.
Ms Mandarin told GB News that Chagossians ‘do not feel protected’ in the UK
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GB NEWS
“So why are the Government not giving the Chagossians people their rights of self-determination? These are human rights.”
Noting there are “many reasons” to be against the surrender deal, she concluded: “There’s many reasons to be against this treaty, there’s monetary reasons and there’s environmental reasons, as Vanessa has said.
“But the biggest reason of all is that the people who are directly affects have not been asked what they believe, and I think that that is totally wrong.”