50 years ago the Chagossian Community were forced into exile by the UK Government to enable the construction of a US airbase on Diego Garcia. The 50 year agreement between the US and UK comes to its end on December 30 of this year. However, on Wednesday 16 November, the Government made the decision not to go ahead with a resettlement scheme that would have allowed a number Chagossians to return to their islands. The agreement will roll on for another 20 years without the pres

Chagos Refugee Group Leader Oliver Bancoult is today (7 April) handing in a letter to UK Prime Minister David Cameron at 10 Downing Street calling on him to “show statesmanship” by ending Chagossians' exile. You can read Mr Bancoult's letter in full here. Chagossians have lived in exile since they were forcibly removed from their Chagos Islands homeland in the Indian Ocean in the early 1970s. Despite being British citizens, they were removed under UK Government order so a US