Buffalo Souljah
2nd May 2010, 05:37
A perfect example of "might makes right":
After Mauritus was granted sovereignty from Britain in 1968, the United States requested the U.K. to lease to it land in the Indian Ocean to be used for military purposes. Britain crafted agreements with Mauritian government to purchase Diego Garcia and began depopulating the island shortly thereafter. The inhabitants (who were largely illiterate and spoke an unusual dialect that was little known elsewhere) were heavily exploited and their interests largely ignored. Many are now homeless and without work in Mauritus, which has claimed no responsibility for transitioning the expatriates and has spent none of the $1.4 million given to it to assist the displaced islanders. Atrocities committed against the islanders included gassing their pets using the exhaust from American military vehicles. Inhabitants were told, if they did not evacuate, the same fate would await them as well. There were additional threats of bombing as well. Chaggosse who left to trade on Mauritus were kept from returning, being told that their work contracts had expired.
The US has used this base to launch attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan and calls it "an indispensable platform for policing the world".
Unfortunately, ICC jurisdiction is not retroactive (having gone into effect as late as July of 2002), since "deportation or forcible transfer of population" constitutes a crime against humanity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_against_humanity) if it is "committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack", otherwise there would be international uproar about this travesty.
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depopulation_of_Diego_Garcia) article
A timeline (http://web.archive.org/web/20051023230212/http://www.lalitmauritius.com/kronoloziprufrid.htm) of the events surrounding the depopulation
A documentary (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3667764379758632511#) on the subject
After Mauritus was granted sovereignty from Britain in 1968, the United States requested the U.K. to lease to it land in the Indian Ocean to be used for military purposes. Britain crafted agreements with Mauritian government to purchase Diego Garcia and began depopulating the island shortly thereafter. The inhabitants (who were largely illiterate and spoke an unusual dialect that was little known elsewhere) were heavily exploited and their interests largely ignored. Many are now homeless and without work in Mauritus, which has claimed no responsibility for transitioning the expatriates and has spent none of the $1.4 million given to it to assist the displaced islanders. Atrocities committed against the islanders included gassing their pets using the exhaust from American military vehicles. Inhabitants were told, if they did not evacuate, the same fate would await them as well. There were additional threats of bombing as well. Chaggosse who left to trade on Mauritus were kept from returning, being told that their work contracts had expired.
The US has used this base to launch attacks on Iraq and Afghanistan and calls it "an indispensable platform for policing the world".
Unfortunately, ICC jurisdiction is not retroactive (having gone into effect as late as July of 2002), since "deportation or forcible transfer of population" constitutes a crime against humanity (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_against_humanity) if it is "committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack", otherwise there would be international uproar about this travesty.
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depopulation_of_Diego_Garcia) article
A timeline (http://web.archive.org/web/20051023230212/http://www.lalitmauritius.com/kronoloziprufrid.htm) of the events surrounding the depopulation
A documentary (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3667764379758632511#) on the subject