Chagossians land on Chagos - what now?
NEWS
In a sensational twist to the Government’s Chagos Islands sovereignty handover treaty negotiations, a small group of British patriotic Chagossians have landed on one of the Chagos Islands this week.
Misley Mandarin, head of UK Chagossian group BIOT Citizen and voted Interim First Minister of the Chagos Islands Government-In-Exile, who led the trip said it is the start of a “permanent return” of Chagossians settlers. He told GB News that many more would follow to "come home before they die.”
Returning to Peros Banhos, a group of islands within the Chagos Islands atoll, with his father Michel Mandarin, 74, who was born there, Mandarin exclaimed in a defiant landing pronouncement, “We are not visitors, we are belongers.”
He ended his landing video [video link posted by Conservative Post] by saying, “God Save the King” and “God Save the United States of America.”
The group also issued a Declaration of Return detailing the law the Chagossian group said their right of self-determination was based on.
For Mandarin and his group, also accompanied by Adam Holloway, a Reform member, former Conservative MP, Army officer and ITN reporter, the task of building a camp and organising long-term living on the islands begins.
Financial support to maintain food and drink supplies, Starlink satellite and other necessities are being funded by donations reportedly from various political campaign groups and individuals organised by Holloway.
The Chagossian group had spent several days spent travelling from the UK to the islands including on a yacht, and then a motorised small boat to land on an island beach. It can cost about £4000 a day to travel by yacht across the Indian Ocean.
The sovereignty treaty for the Chagos Islands, also known as British Indian Ocean Territory, has been signed by the UK and Mauritius governments but not yet approved by the UK parliament. The treaty bill is due to return to the House of Lords on Monday. Meanwhile a US delegation will be landing in Mauritius to discuss the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, one of the islands.
BIOT Immigration Ordinances enacted in 1971 enforce a 24 mile exclusion zone around the island of Diego Garcia, the UK-US military base in the Chagos Islands. Under BIOT law anyone landing on the islands for longer other than for “safe passage” as part of their travel to elsewhere can be removed.
A spokesperson for the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said yesterday: “The UK government recognises the importance of the islands to the Chagossian community and is working with Mauritius to resume a programme of heritage visits to the Chagos archipelago. This kind of illegal, unsafe stunt is not the way to achieve that.”
Today Misley Mandarin and the group on the islands have received an eviction order from BIOT enforcement officials.
I explained on GB News why Mandarin and his group returned to the islands this month after years of campaigning and hardship for Chagossians living in the UK and Mauritius.
Tessa Clarke/18 Feb 2026