Chagos islanders demand compensation from Britain

By Ed Harris

CASSIS, Mauritius (Reuters) - Indian Ocean islanders expelled from the Chagos archipelago more than 40 years ago want Britain to pay damages, their leader said on Sunday.

Some 2,000 Chagossians were kicked out of their palm-fringed homes during the Cold War when the British rulers of the islands granted permission for the United States to build an air and naval base on the biggest atoll, Diego Garcia.

Last month, Britain's High Court dismissed an appeal by the Foreign Office against their return.

"We are asking for damages for all the wrongdoing we have suffered," Olivier Bancoult, chairman of the Chagos Refugees Group, told Reuters after returning to Mauritius, where many of the islanders were sent after being taken from the archipelago.

A second case against Britain is pending before the European Court of Human Rights, he added. "We have people, foreigners, in Diego Garcia. Why can't Chagossians live there too?"

Hundreds of supporters cheered and waved bronze, black and turquoise striped flags as his convoy drove from the airport, where he landed after a third legal victory in London.

The Chagossians won court cases against the former colonial power in 2000 and 2006, but British appeals and convoluted legal procedures had so far blocked their return.

But, pending any British government appeal, the islanders can now return as soon as they can organise a trip. The Foreign Office has said it will consider carefully the latest ruling before deciding whether to seek an appeal in the House of Lords.