"Misley Mandarin, a BIOT citizen, told Politics London: "It seemed like the Labour government [want to] steam ahead with the treaty without considering the most important key component of that deal, which is the Chagossians. "And this makes us very angry. I'd rather die for my country than my country go to Mauritius. "This is the type of angriness in me right now, and it's shared with all the Chagossians right now.""
"Vanessa Mandarin, also a BIOT citizen, told the programme: "We want the self-determination to dedicate the future of our homeland, what we want to do with our homeland. "And we want the Chagossians to be first. "We don't want another state to come and talk on our behalf. We will be challenging, we will not surrender. We will be challenging until the end.""
The UK government agreed to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while leasing back the military base on Diego Garcia for 101m a year. Foreign Office minister Seema Malhotra said the deal is about securing the UK's future and that allies approved the agreement. London-based Chagossians have protested the plan, saying they are being excluded from decisions about their homeland and demanding self-determination and priority in planning. The UK bought the islands for 3m in 1968 and forcibly removed inhabitants over five years to make way for a UK-US armed forces base, displacing many to Mauritius, the Seychelles and the UK.
Read at www.bbc.com
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