Donald Trump has been hailed as a “beacon of hope” for the Chagos Islands as Sir Keir Starmer’s “sneaky agreement” could be blocked by the President-elect, co-head of the British Indian Ocean Territory Citizens platform has said.
Vanessa Calou said she believes the soon-to-be-inaugurated 47th President of the United States could cancel Labour’s plan to surrender the sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius.
Calou blasted Starmer’s decision to give up the Chagos Islands last month as a “sneaky agreement” and said the plan needs to be stopped by the incoming President.
Issuing an appeal to Donald Trump for his support in denying the deal to hand over the land to Mauritius, Calou said Chagossians are “proud to be British”.
She wrote: “The British Chagossians do not support the agreement on a treaty to surrender the British Indian Ocean Territory to the Mauritian Government.
“There was no consultation by the current UK Government with the indigenous population to include our views in this agreement.
“The United States President-elect is a beacon of hope for the Chagossians population hoping that Donald Trump will stop the treaty and grant the indigenous of the Chagos the right to self-determination.”
Calou hopes that the American military base on Diego Garcia, an area of land that makes up the islands, will pique the interest of Trump.
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“As it is a United States military base, the President-elect… must have strong views over this sneaky agreement and therefore stop this treaty and assist the indigenous return under the British flag,” she continued.
“We are proud to be British and wish to remain British.”
Starmer recently sparked more outrage with the Chagossians by failing to invite a representative to Remembrance Sunday.
Dozens of representatives from British Overseas Territories laid down wreaths at the Cenotaph, including representatives from The Falkland Islands and Gibraltar.
A spokesperson for Chagossian Voices, Jean-Francois Nellan, told GB News how Labour let down the islands.
“Unfortunately, no representative or anyone from the community was asked to attend the laying of wreaths at the Cenotaph.”
Tory MP Andrew Rosindell, the President of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on the Chagos Islands, also told GB News that it was a “total betrayal” of the Chagossians.
“It’s a total betrayal of the British Chagossian population in the UK.
“The Government are acting like a colonial power, riding roughshod over the Chagossian people and denying them their right of self-determination.”
