UK set to defy UN deadline to return Chagos Islands

Britain will defy a UN deadline to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius. This is what The Guardian reports today.

The UK is supposed to return the Island by today. But the refusal to end its occupation will be marked by protests at the UK high commission in Port Louis.

However, the Labour Party’s election manifesto in the UK pledges to allow Chagossians to resettle in their homeland.

After the UN general assembly vote, followed by an advisory opinion by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, means the UK has to abide by the rulings.

But there is no enforcement of these rulings and Mauritius is not able to carry out its own ‘invasion’ of its territory to recapture it from the British.

The UK regards neither the ICJ judgment nor the UN motion as binding, says The Guardian.

The UN vote in May set a six-month deadline for UK withdrawal, which expires Today.

The Chagos archipelago is the last African territory to be held by the UK and the British refusal to comply with the rulings will further isolate them.

This will set Mauritius on a path of conflict with its former colonial masters but the country’s political figures say they will not stop pushing for their territory’s independence.