Britain has been declared an “occupying power” of the Republic of Mauritius. The UK’s military occupation of Chagos and Diego Garcia has been formally declared « unlawful ». So, when last Friday’s Cabinet Meeting press release announces that Britain referred to the “position” of Mauritius, as “measured”, this should already have been a clear warning to the representatives of the State of Mauritius: You are acting like a doormat, payason.

There is absolutely no point in Mauritius persisting in “bilateral” negotiations with an occupying power that is duping you. To make matters worse still for Mauritius, the British “permanent state” and its stooges like Nigel Farage are acting « de concert » not only with the UK Labour Party of Starmer and whoever will be his successor but also with Misely Mandarin, the self-proclaimed First Minister of the defunct British Indian Ocean Territory « entity ».

In the face of the looming danger of losing all the gains in decolonization that Mauritius has made, LALIT calls on the Government, in particular Prime Minister Ramgoolam and Attorney General Glover, to be on guard that they are not being duped. The Mauritian Government call is merely for “the need for the new UK Prime Minister to lay down a road map for ratification by the UK of the Agreement on the Chagos Archipelago.”

Yet it seems that, in their heart of hearts, the two Mauritian negotiators already know they are being duped. Because they make a veiled threat. But this veiled threat is far too “measured”. What is it? The official report on the Mauritian Cabinet meeting of 10 July expresses the threat this way: that the UK “was informed that Mauritius’ stand could be reviewed by September 2026”. This date probably refers to the UN General Assembly meeting that begins on 8 September. But that, Messrs Ramgoolam and Glover is just too late. And the British, having hoodwinked colonies and ex-colonies like Mauritius for centuries have cleverly fixed a UK delegation to meet only AFTER September i.e. on 5 October!

The United Nations rules refer to ongoing items, like the Chagos decolonization issue, needing to be submitted 30 days in advance, by around 9 August. So, Dr. Ramgoolam and Me. Glover need to act now to meet the 9 August deadline, and to stop messing about.
In LALIT, we call on the Government representatives to proceed as follows:
1. To suspend Mauritius’ signature to the bilateral Agreement already signed, on the technical grounds that the UK has not signed, on the democratic grounds that Mauritius Parliament has not voted for it, and on the fundamental ground that it is now evident that bilateral agreements with Britain will not bring the implementation of the decolonization of Mauritius, as called for by the General Assembly of the United Nations in order to put into practice the ICJ judgment calling Britain to decolonize immediately.
2. To prepare a supplementary ICJ case, for guidance on what to do now.

3. To prepare cases in appropriate international courts for:
a) Reparations due to the State of Mauritius, which is owed payments for illegal occupation for 57 years of part of Mauritian Territory, and for the damage this has resulted in for the State of Mauritius and all its people.

b) New proper reparations to all Chagossians who were forcibly removed, now that it has been legally proven that their removal and the occupation was against international law.
4. To affreight a ship and take a formal Government and Opposition visit, with Chagossian representatives and journalists from Mauritius and abroad, to visit the islands of Chagos.
5. To Amend the Constitution as soon as possible to create a new Constituency called “Chagos”, with a seat at the National Assembly, and to set up a Regional Assembly as Rodrigues has.

6. To take the same stand as the powerful « coalition » of 28 trade unions and associations  took in April this year in their Common Declaration, that is to say, to call for the closure of the military base on Diego Garcia,
and
7. As the unions and associations put it that the Government « [does] not agree to be ‘belligerent’ by abetting [the US and Israeli] aggressors in this war [on Iran]. Aggressors commit « the supreme war crime » under international law and their accomplices who provide military bases do, too. »

Alain Ah Vee, Lindsey Collen, Ragini Kistnasamy, for LALIT.  13 July 2026.