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The Mauritius Yellow Pages News - US Sociologists Visit Displaced Community in Mauritius |
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Mauritius News in French and English |
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| US Sociologists Visit Displaced Community in Mauritius | ||||||
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Posted to the web March 16, 2001 |
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March 13, 2001 - Port Louis, Mauritius, Indian Ocean |
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Two US Sociologists Virginia Sadler and Thomas
Lynch are in Mauritius to collect information on the displaced Indian Ocean
Islands' Chagossian community. The Chagossians lived on the Chagos
archipelago before they were expelled 35 years ago from the islands, some
1,200-km north of Mauritius, to pave way for the construction of the US
military base on the island of Diego Garcia.
Some 1,500 of them are currently living in abject poverty in Mauritius. Assembled under the Chagos refugee Group, the Chagossians are demanding two million US dollars in compensation from the US government for their displacement. Olivier Bancoult, President of the Group, said Monday that the US Sociologists were in Mauritius to see for themselves the living conditions of the Chagossian people. But Lynch, one of the visiting Sociologists told local journalists that it would be very difficult to convince the US government to pay compensation to the Chagossians. "They (government) would not admit that they have caused wrong to these people," he said. His colleague, Sadler expressed shock at the living conditions of the Chagossian people. Sadler and Lynch leave Mauritius Friday after more than one week's tour. Since it can take long before the Chagossian community is able to get back to the Chagos Archipelago islands, is it not Mauritian government's responsibility to improve life conditions for Chagossians living on our island? Being left to struggle against poverty by themselves, do you think Chagossians will want to come visit Mauritius again once they they have settled in the Chagos? Do you think it is important that Mauritians improve relations with people from surrounding islands? Why do you think Mauritians have the tendancy to disparage people coming from Rodrigues or Chagos? Are Mauritians concerned about the Chagossian community's "destiny"?
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