Britain-Mauritius dispute: India backs UNGA resolution, refer case to ICJ

United Nations, June 23: India has voted against the UK to back of a UN General Assembly resolution seeking the International Court of Justice's opinion on the decades-long dispute between Britain and Mauritius over a strategic island in the Indian Ocean.

In a diplomatic blow to Britain, the General Assembly on Thursday voted by 94 to 15 to ask the Hague-based court to examine the legal status of the Chagos Archipelago, which Mauritius maintains is part of its territory that has been unlawfully claimed by the UK since 1965. Britain cut off the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 before granting it independence in 1968. India was among the nations voting in favour of the resolution proposed by Mauritius and co-sponsored by the Group of African States.

"As part of our longstanding support to all peoples striving for decolonisation, we have also consistently supported Mauritius, a fellow developing country from Africa with whom we have age-old people to people bonds, in their quest for the restoration of their sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Syed Akbaruddin said in his statement to the General Assembly on the resolution. Akbaruddin said India supports the draft and votes in favour of it, "continuing with our consistent approach on this important issue of decolonisation".

Speaking before the vote, Mauritius Minister Mentor and Minister for Defence Anerood Jugnauth told the 193-member General Assembly that the Chagos Archipelago has been part of his country since at least the 18th century, when France had governed it. He said the entire territory had been ceded to the United Kingdom in 1810, and kept intact until the unlawful excision of the Chagos Archipelago in November 1965.

He added that information had come to light about British efforts to manipulate the international community at the time, and to present the United Nations with a fait accompli regarding the separation. Those facts alone should warrant a fresh look at the situation, he emphasised.

PTI