The old Forum Mancham and Diego Garcia issues

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CHAGOS : Le nouveau gouvernement solidaire de la contestation

Le gouvernement mauricien a changé de dirigeants après les dernières élections générales, mais la position de Maurice par rapport au combat pour la récupération de l’archipel des Chagos dans l’intérêt national ne change pas pour autant.
Le Conseil des ministres a effectivement, lors de sa première séance de travail de cette année, pris note de l’initiative enclenchée par Maurice, le 20 décembre 2010 sous l’ancien régime, contestant la démarche de la Grande-Bretagne de décréter un parc marin protégé autour de l’archipel. Il faut rappeler que le précédent régime de Navin Ramgoolam a contesté la démarche britannique devant le Tribunal arbitral international de la mer au terme de l’article 287 et de l’annexe VII de la Convention des droits de la mer des Nations unies.

http://www.lemauricien.com/article/chag ... ntestation

[Grandlarousse]

Diego Garcia: la CIA aurait utilisé la base pour interroger des présumés terroristes

Nouveau pavé dans la mare dans l’affaire des hommes suspectés de terrorisme qui auraient été illégalement détenus sur la base militaire américaine de Diego Garcia. Dans une interview accordée à Vice News le 30 janvier, Lawrence Wilkerson, qui occupait de 2002 à 2005 le poste de Chief of Staff du secrétaire d’Etat Colin Powell, a soutenu que des «activités infâmes» se seraient déroulées dans le secret de cette infrastructure militaire.

S’il n’a pas prononcé le mot «torture», Wilkerson a assuré au Congrès que les suspects détenus sur l’île ont été interrogés par des soldats américains. De plus, a-t-il ajouté, les autorités britanniques étaient au courant. L’ancien Chief of Staff a assuré avoir été informé de la situation par quatre sources provenant de la Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Il a ajouté que les présumés terroristes étaient envoyés sur la base en transit, ou lorsque les centres de détention militaires étaient pleins.

Le mois dernier, un comité sénatorial américain avait publié un rapport sur les «interrogatoires» conduits sur les détenus suspectés de terrorisme par la CIA dans les années qui ont suivi l’attaque du 11 septembre. Il y est notamment fait mention de longues privations de sommeil et de waterboarding, une méthode de simulation de la noyade. Cependant, aucune mention n’est faite de Diego Garcia ou de la complicité passive ou active des autorités anglaises.

Ces allégations, qualifiées d’«extrêmement sérieuses» par un membre du Parlement anglais, jettent de l’huile sur le feu entre les Américains et les Anglais à l’heure où de nombreuses voix au Royaume-Uni s’interrogent sur l’utilité de renouveler le bail accordé au gouvernement US.

http://www.lexpress.mu/article/258308/d ... erroristes

[Grandlarousse]

Exiles from Chagos Islands given hope of returning soon to their lost paradise
The long-fought-for end to expulsion from Indian Ocean atolls to make way for a US base may finally rest on an outlay of £64m

It is a scandal stretching across six decades: the forced removal of hundreds of native people from a British overseas territory to make way for a US military base. That Diego Garcia, the main island in the Chagos archipelago – seven atolls in the Indian Ocean – has played a part in the CIA’s torture programme has only added to Britain’s sense of shame.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/f ... ego-garcia

[Grandlarousse]

Mancham to join Sven-Olof Lindblad on Orion National Geographic cruise through Seychelles

09-February-2015
Mr ManchamThe luxurious Orion National Geographic cruiseship operated by Lindblad Expeditions Limited of the USA will be in Seychelles for 12 days in April 2015.
Seychelles’ founding President James R. Mancham has been invited by Sven-Olof Lindblad to be a Global Perspectives Guest Speaker on this Seychelles islands 2015 special cruise.

Sven-Olof Lindblad is the son of Lars-Eric Lindblad, who brought the Lindblad Explorer to Seychelles to open up international tourism in the 60s – long before Seychelles opened up its international airport.

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=244451

[Grandlarousse]

Chagos Islands: The ‘point of return’ beckons for Chagosians -

Over four decades ago, citizens of the picturesque Indian Ocean archipelago of Chagos were tricked or forcibly removed from their land by the UK to make way for a US military base following a secret deal between the two countries. The suffering of the forcibly exiled Chagossians, and their fight to return home is well documented. Now a new report brings hope their ordeal could soon be over. Dr Sean Carey finds out how. -

See more at: http://newafricanmagazine.com/chagos-is ... TSnJy.dpuf

http://newafricanmagazine.com/chagos-is ... hagosians/

[Grandlarousse]

REVENDICATION MAURICIENNE SUR LES CHAGOS : Bérenger exprime sa "vive inquiétude" face à "l'absence de réaction" du gouvernement

"La période 2014/2016 sera cruciale pour l'accord américano/britannique de 1966", prévient le leader de l'opposition

Il évoque le "grave danger" que les Britanniques n'utilisent leur projet de "resettlement" de Chagossiens pour "semer la division" entre Chagossiens et Mauriciens
Commentant la revendication de souveraineté mauricienne sur les Chagos, Paul Bérenger, leader de l'opposition et du MMM, exprime sa "vive inquiétude" de "l'absence de réaction", selon lui, du gouvernement alors qu'approchent à grands pas trois échéances importantes. Pour lui, la période 2014/2016 se révèlera "cruciale"pour le devenir de l'accord américano/britannique conclut en 1966 sur l'utilisation de l'île de Diego Garcia comme base militaire américaine. Le leader de l'opposition évoque, entre autres, le "grave danger"que les Britannique n'utilisent leur projet de "resettlement" d'un certain nombre de Chagossiens dans leurs îles natales en vue de "semer la division" entre Chagossiens et Mauriciens.

http://www.lemauricien.com/article/reve ... labsence-r

[Grandlarousse]

Director of the Prince of Wales International Sustainability Unit at State House

14-February-2015
Financing and development of blue economy projects focus of talks


How to create attractive, bankable, and sustainable projects in the blue economy sector and how to secure funding for these projects were among the issues Justin Mundy discussed with President James Michel yesterday.
Mr Mundy, the director of the Prince of Wales Sustainability Unit, paid a courtesy call on President James Michel at State House yesterday morning.

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=244525

[Grandlarousse]

Mancham on high-level missions to Dubai and Istanbul

17-February-2015
Founding President James R. Mancham has announced that he will be attending The Next Generation Democracy Dialogue and the Global Education and Skills Forum which Le Club de Madrid will be hosting from March 13-14, 2015 in Dubai in association with the Carnegie Middle East Centre.

Le Club de Madrid is an association of former presidents and heads of government of democratic nations to which Mr Mancham was elected two years ago.

The Next Generation Democracy Dialogue was launched by Le Club de Madrid at the club’s general assembly which was held in Florence, Italy.

The Global Education and Skills Forum, held annually since 2012 in the United Arab Emirates, has become the pre-eminent event that brings together leaders and practitioners from the public and private social sectors to address major global education policy issues – with particular focus on systemic initiatives that increase both quality and access to education and employment.

From Dubai Mr Mancham will proceed to Istanbul, Turkey for discussions with the secretary general and members of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Black Sea Economic Corporation (Pabsec) in response to an invitation from the secretary general who wrote to him on February 13 as follows:

“It is my pleasure to invite you as a peacemaker and bridge builder specialising in the field of national reconciliation between and within nations to visit us in Istanbul at some convenient time to discuss matters pertaining to peace and global and regional security against your background involvement with peace and security issues.”

Pabsec was created as a result of the major political changes in the late 1980s when the nations of the Black Sea region re-emerged on the world scene. The search by the countries of the region for ways of meeting challenges of national development and European integration paved the way for combining the efforts with a view to turning the Black Sea region into an area of stability, prosperity and peace.

The Summit Declaration of the Black Sea Economic Corporation and the Bosphorus Statement signed in Istanbul on June 25, 1992, defined the basic principles and objectives of the Black Sea Economic Corporation, formally instituting a new regional cooperation process with the participation of 11 countries – Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Republic of Moldova, Romania, The Russian Federation, Turkey and Ukraine. Serbia and Montenegro joined the Pabsec in 2004, becoming the 12th member state. In 2006, after Montenegro declared its independence, the Republic of Serbia became the legal successor of the former state both in the Black Sea Economic Corporation and the Pabsec.

In a statement yesterday morning, Mr Mancham said he was very much looking forward to his meeting with Pabsec’s parliamentarians in Istanbul, particularly as he was spearheading the idea of creating a centre for peace studies in Seychelles in association with the European Council of Peace Development based in Belgrade, Serbia and the University of Seychelles (UniSey).

In this connection he said that last week he entertained very collaborative discussions with Professor Dennis Hardy, vice-chancellor of the UniSey, and Dr Justin Valentin, dean of the Faculty of Business and Law, who were in principle very supportive of the idea.

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=244544

[Grandlarousse]

Letter to the Editor - The Pirates Arms issue: A puzzle which should be solved

26-February-2015
It is with great interest that I have read the long feature article on the Pirates Arms Building which you published yesterday morning.

My understanding is that the article is published to get the historical record straight in the context of the debate whether the current Pirates Arms Building should be demolished in order to make room for a more modern and perhaps more impressive building in this strategic part of Victoria.

When I was growing up in the 50s, there were only two hotels in Victoria. In fact, this is what Alec Waugh wrote in 1952 in one of the first books ever written about the Seychellles 'Where the Clocks Chime Twice' (first published in 1952 by Cassell & Co. Ltd, London):
"The evenings that I spent in the town of Victoria I stayed at the Continental.

Victoria owns two hotels; the Empire is the other one. Accommodation is available at either, at the shortest notice. The clientele and atmosphere are completely different. The Empire stands opposite the club. It is the first building that the visitor sees as he drives up from the pier. Prospective residents use it as a base while they are discovering 'how the land lies'. It has a large hall that is hired for weddings and receptions; meals are served punctually, and breakfast tables are cleared at nine.

The Continental is two blocks away. It advertises itself facing 'the quiet of the Cathedral Close'. The Cathedral stands at the junction of the road over the mountain and the road along the coast. This latter road is also the main shopping thoroughfare. On the other side of it lie the taxi-stand and car park.
Behind these lies the football field. The Continental stands, therefore, in the noisiest corner of the town. It is the hotel that I preferred..."

Ironically, the Continental Hotel was owned and operated by none other than my late father, Richard Mancham - but when I married my first wife in 1963, the wedding reception was held at the Empire Hotel which had just been renamed the Pirates Arms by Mr. Bentley Buckle, who had just become its new owner.

This strategically-placed hotel opposite the Seychelles Club was in fact a very impressive French Colonial wooden building which would have warranted conservation if at that time we had in place a policy of preserving national heritage. Unfortunately, it was left unattended and uncared for and was subsequently demolished. It is there and then that Mr. Michael Oswald and Mr. Ken Roberts decided to buy the site and built the new Pirates Arms as it stands today.

If we must preserve Pirates Arms as it is, in order to commemorate the pioneering efforts and confidence of early investors in Seychelles or to honour the engineering feats of Mr. Roy Garden, who was the engineer behind the construction, this is certainly one thing. But to say that the Pirates Arms Building, as it now stands, constitutes an architectural monument deserving a Seychelles heritage status and therefore qualify for preservation, is certainly another story.

The veracity of the story which we are told about the historical ownership of the Pirates Arms Building remains a puzzle which should be solved. The researcher of the article, you published, wrote "....after 5th of June 1977 coup the Seychelles government acquired the building, the terms of that acquisition are not very clear." I certainly cannot agree with your researcher more - "The terms of acquisition are not very clear."

At all material time, I was a good friend of Mr. Michael Oswald, who had become the sole owner of the property after buying out the shares of his partner, Mr. Ken Roberts, a few months before the coup.

My understanding is that following the coup, Mr Oswald was pressured to sell the property not to the Seychelles government but to one individual. That any individual would acquire a hotel in Seychelles just a few days after a revolutionary coup would suggest, in my view, that this individual was himself involved in the coup or closely associated with those involved in it.

It would therefore be interesting to know precisely the historical truth about the ownership of the Pirates Arms. Who were the real owners? By which process did the government acquire the property? Why was there a need for government to approach Dr. Ramadoss for help as you suggest in your article? And what is all this business about a subsequent offer by Dr. Ramadoss to government to buy the building and how and when did the Pension Fund come in? Some clarifications are certainly called for.

I am sure that a researcher to these questions will be able to demarcate where "privatisation" stopped and "piratisation" began.

James R. Mancham

Editor’s note: It is to be noted that the feature article Mr Mancham is referring to appeared as a paid supplement in Seychelles Nation and that the editorial staff of this newspaper did not contribute in any way to the feature’s contents.

http://www.nation.sc/article.html?id=244634

[Grandlarousse]

UN ruling raises hope of return for exiled Chagos islanders


Britain acted illegally, say judges in scathing ruling that upholds Mauritius’s rights and restricts US ability to expand ‘rendition’ air base on Diego Garcia

Britain acted illegally in the way it has exercised territorial control over the Chagos Islands, a UN tribunal has ruled, raising questions over the UK’s claim to sovereignty and offering hope of return to hundreds of evicted islanders.

In a withering judgment, the UK is accused of creating a marine protected area (MPA) to suit its electoral timetable, snubbing the rights of its former colony Mauritius and cosying up to the United States, which has a key military base – allegedly used for the rendition of terrorist suspects – on the largest island, Diego Garcia.

The ruling effectively throws into doubt the UK’s assertion of absolute ownership, restricts the Americans’ ability to expand their facility without Mauritian compliance and boosts the chances of exiled Chagossians being able to return to their homeland.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/m ... -islanders