Exiled islanders win court battle against UK

LONDON, England (Reuters) -- The people of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, who were driven into exile by Britain to make way for a U.S. military base more than 30 years ago, won a key victory on Friday in their legal battle to return home.

The High Court in London ruled that the British government had acted unlawfully in kicking the inhabitants off the 65-island Chagos archipelago, a British territory.

Lord Justice Laws told the court that banishing the islanders had been an "abject legal failure" by the British government.

He ruled that a 1971 administrative order which banned the islanders from returning to their home should be quashed.

Diego Garcia -- strategically located 1,500 miles (2,400 km) south of India and halfway between Africa and Indonesia -- was leased to the United States by Britain in 1966, at the height of the Cold War, for 50 years.

The full impact of the High Court ruling was not immediately clear since the islands are still home to a strategic U.S. military base which was used during the Gulf War.

It is estimated that of around 2,000 islanders who were originally moved out, up to 500 are still alive.

The inhabitants were shipped from Diego Garcia and other islands to Mauritius, off the eastern coast of Africa.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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