Diego Garcia: Exiles Still Barred
The Americans had asked the British, their long-time allies, who still had colonies in the region, to find an uninhabited island for their base.
There was just one problem -- there were inhabitants on Diego Garcia and they have been living there for more than 200 years. Correspondent Christiane Amanpour reports.
But the British didn't see that as a problem. They simply moved all the inhabitants 1,200 miles away to other tropical islands, Mauritius and the Seychelles.
Back then when the island was a British colony, Marcel Moulinie managed the coconut plantation. He was ordered to ship the people out.
"Total evacuation. They wanted no indigenous people there," says Moulinie.
"When the final time came and the ships were chartered, they weren't allowed to take anything with them except a suitcase of their clothes. The ships were small and they could take nothing else, no furniture, nothing."
The people of Diego Garcia say they left paradise and landed in hell when they were dumped here in the urban slums of Mauritius. They had brought no possessions and as islanders who had lived off fishing and farming they had no real professional skills.
No one helped them resettle or pay for the homes they lost. They were forced to become squatters in a foreign land.
Before the final evacuation, the British had cut off the ships carrying food and medicine to Diego Garcia.
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http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-18560_162-558378.htm
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