Stiglitz' Helsinki speech remains a beacon in the history of the World Bank and, as a critique from within, in the face of the manifest failure of the "Washington Consensus" to eradicate poverty and initiate development, it remains an important document to refer to in challenging the bank. However, there is no evidence that Stiglitz represents a way forward for the World Bank. Those in the south who are concerned about debt need to increase their levels of organisation to ensure that the people recapture their right to shape their own development. * The author can be contacted at <[email protected]> riego Garcia region, and a direct cause of nuclear escalation.
When all the nations of Africa, and the five nuclear powers signed the Pelindaba Treaty for a Nuclear-ArmsFree Africa, the UK and USA refused to sign until "dotted lines" were put around Diego Garcia.
As the United States intensifies its economic and political domination of Africa, particularly through the Africa Growth and Opportunities Bill presently before Congress, it will be looking for any excuse to maintaining its military presence on Diego Garcia.
Mauritian reporter Henri Marimootoo has analysed a mass of material recently declassified under Britain's 30-yearsecrecy-rule had been passed. These documents reveal the 1964 Anglo-American survey, the United States insistence on getting "the whole Chagos Archipelago" , and revealed the "price" -£3 million "compensation" and a higher quota of Mauritian sugar allowed into the US market!
Activists in the USA are pressing their government to re-open the Chagos
International Viewpoint #310 April 1999 23
* Africa dossier-these de-classified documents were not available at the time of the Congressional hearing on Diego Garcia, and their availability means that people can press for the US Congress to take the matter up again.
Inside Mauritius, the radical left group Lalit has joined with Grup Refizye mann Talit has toined with Grun Refizve Chagos (Chagos Refugees Group) and others in a common front for the decolonization and demilitarization of the Indian Ocean. It is called Rann Nu Diego - which means both "return us to Diego" and "return Diego to us"
In 1992 the former British High Commissioner to Mauritius confirmed that "The British Government has always acknowledged that Mauritius has a legitimate interest in the future of these islands and recognizes the Government of the Republic of Mauritius as the only State which has a right to assert a claim to sovereignty when the United Kingdom relinquishes its own sovereignty. The British Government has therefore given an undertaking to the Government of the Republic of Mauritius that, when the islands are no longer needed for the defense purposes of the United Kingdom and the United States, they will be ceded to Mauritius."
With the advent of a "new" Labour Government in Britain, many Mauritians hope that pressure can finally lead to the return of the islands. Though it was the Labour Government of Harold Wilson that "excised" the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius by an Order in Her Majesty's Council.
The Labour Party of Mauritius is also back in power, ruling alone for the first time since 1982. In 1965 the Labour Party dominated the pre-Independence "Government" which negotiated the detachment of the islands. This kind of deal is specifically outlawed by international law, because a colony (or any preIndependence government) is not a separate entity yet, and is therefore unable to enter into any type of contract or treaty.
Neighbouring Seychelles has successfully negotiated the reintegration of islands seized to create the British Indian Ocean Territories (BIOT). But successive Mauritian governments have preferred to use the issue to bargain, in secret, for higher sugar or textile quotas
Meanwhile, t beautiful coral island, described by a shipwrecked English sailor in 1786 as "one of the wonderful phenomena of the globe" remains a massive USA-UK military base.
The Common Front is working towards a boat or ship visit to Diego Garcia, with people from the Islands and other Mauritians in the group. Massive international support is needed, both to finance the project, and to ensure sufficient publicity when the boat arrives. * For more information contact Lalit, Main Road, Grand River North West, Port Louis, Mauritius. Fax: 230 208 2132, e-mail Calmer innet.mus 2132, e-mail <lalmel@ intnet.mu> 24 International Viewpoint #310 April 1999