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Diego Garcia exiles seek $4bn from US
by
Ewen MacAskill & Rob  Evans

Indian Ocean islanders illegally evicted from their homes 30 year ago to make way for an American base at diego Garcia are to sue the US government for $6bn in compensation

The islanders are to mount the legal challenge after their case in the High Court in London last month, in which they won the right to return home.

Most of the islanders were moved from the Chagos archipelago, which includes Diego Garcia, to Mauritius, where they have failed to integrate and live in poverty.

An end to their exile appeared to be in sight following the case in London but complications have arisen.  The US, which leases Diego Garcia from Britain and which strongly opposes the return of the islanders, is throwing up obstacles.

The US has conceded it cannot prevent them returning to neighbouring islands but it will not allow them them on Diego Garcia itself.  It has also refused to allow the islanders more than a handful of jobs on Diego Garcia and, most important of all, is denying them use of the landing strip.

The cost of building an airstrip on a neighbouring island is estimated at £50m to £100m.  without access to an airfield, life on the islands would be difficult.

Richard Gifford, a lawyer acting on behalf of the islanders, was in Washington last week preparing the legal case.  "I think there are considerable problems if the US sits tight in Diego Garcia," he said.  He held initial discussions with commander Ed Grogan, a lawyer representing the navy section of the US state department.

Mr gifford said court hearings will expose the discriminatory employment practices:  "We want to let it all hang out."

Since the base opened, the US has brought in workers from the Philippines and Mauritius but has never employed any of the exiled islanders.

The Foreign Office is also being sued for compensation.  Mr Gifford declined to put a figure on it yesterday, asking what price could be put to taking homes from 6,000 people.  "It will run into millions," he said.

The foreign secretary, robin cook, initially tried to block the islanders return but caved in after last month's court setback.  His office has accepted that it will have to pay the cost of resettling the islanders, but it will fight any claims for compensation, arguing that it will have done enough if it meets the costs of making the islands habitable again.

Of the 6,000 islanders in line for the £4.1bn compensation being sought, between 400 and 4,000 want to return home.  the initial compensation estimate put forward by US lawyers was £1m for each islander.

An initial assessment carried out by the Foreign Office into the feasibility of making some of the islands habitable found that it would be practicable but expensive.  a further study into fresh water supplies, projected to take a year, is being carried out.

In a further twist, Mauritius, whose territory once included Diego Garcia, is demanding a restoration of sovereignty.  Madeleine Albright,  the US secretary of state, met the island's prime minister, Anerood Jugnauth, on Sunday and said she was now well briefed on the Chagos Islands.

"But I think it's important to understand," she said, "that the legal aspects of this discussion are between the United Kingdom and Mauritius, and not between the United States and Mauritius.