Abayomi Azikiwe, PANW Editor, Featured on 1+1 with Youri Smouter Discussing the History and Contemporary Affairs of the Chagos Islands

Watch part I of this interview with Abayomi Azikiwe, editor of the Pan-African News Wire, with Youri Smouter of 1+1 discussing the history and contemporary affairs of the Chagos Islands off the coast of East Africa. 

To review this program in two parts just click on the following URLs: 1+1 E404 Youri speaks to Abayomi Azikiwe on Diego Garcia's history & present 1 of 2 - YouTube

1+1 E404 Youri speaks to Abayomi Azikiwe on Diego Garcia's history & present 2 of 2 - YouTube

Our central focus is on Diego Garcia which has been turned into a United States military base since the mid-to-late 1960s after the population living and working on the island were forcibly removed and sent to Mauritius and the UK. 

We look at the role of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and its relationship to London as well as the Pentagon. 

There has been an ongoing struggle waged by the Chagos people seeking reparations and the right to return. 

Legal decisions from the British court have not made the people born on and descended from Chagos Islanders whole due to the colonial and imperialist character of their relations with Britain and the US.

 We discuss speculations which suggest that the Pentagon base on Diego Garcia has been utilized for detentions and torture of those held by US intelligence and military agencies. 

The situation in the Chagos Islands and other African states within the Indian Ocean are a direct result of the legacies of French, British and US imperialism.