We have sailed our boat Musichana over 2000 miles to demonstrate to you the serious nature of our concerns about the plight of the Chagossians and about your military activities on Diego Garcia. It is our duty as British citizens, to challenge and expose these activities in a peaceful and responsible manner.
We represent a growing proportion of the world's population, who disagree with the treatment of the Chagossians and demand their right to return.- The Chagos people were the legitimate inhabitants of the Chagos Archipelagos.
- Three generations of Chagossians are buried on the island.
- The UK courts have consistently supported the Chagossians in their right to return.
- While commendable, it is simply not good enough to allow some Chagossiansto come back to clean and restore graveyards. When the work is finished they have to leave again.
We are disgusted by your military activities, because history has proven that violent military conflicts and all forms of terrorism solve nothing. Yet your actions and those of your respective Governments, which corruptly entangle profit making business with political and military decisions, continue to increase militarization and the use of force as a first rather than a last option and only perpetuate global instability and terrorise innocent people.
Your base here is, together with the other US bases throughout the world, part of an axis of evil and represents all the corruption and subversion of human decency. From here your bombers have rained terror, horror and destruction, often onto the heads of innocent people. It has also been used for secretly transporting and holding prisoners without regard to even he most basic and accepted concepts of justice. We urge you, in the name of humanity to cease your inhumane activities. You must leave Diego Garcia rthwith and end your shameful and harmful presence here, so that the rightful inhabitants, who you exiled nearly forty years ago can return to their homes and ive in peace.
"There are times when one tragedy, one crime, tells us how a whole system works
behind its democratic facade, and helps us understand how much of the world is
run for the benefit of the powerful"
John Pilger - Stealing a Nation. Oct.2004.
The Guardian, Wednesday March 12 2008
Two British human rights campaigners have been arrested at sea off Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean after protesting against the island's use in British and US military operations. The two men were demonstrating against the island's admitted use by the US for rendition flights and the historic removal of the Chagos islanders from their homes nearly 40 years ago.
Peter Bouquet, 59, originally from Devon, and Jon Castle, 56, originally from Guernsey, were detained by UK authorities after allegedly failing to leave the waters around Diego Garcia on board their vessel, Musichana. Both men are former captains of Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior and veterans of environmental and human rights direct actions around the world. They are currently part of a group called the People's Navy which has been seeking to highlight the plight of the Chagossians and to protest against the military use of the islands, which form part of the British Indian Ocean Territory.
In a statement before their arrest, the men said that they wanted to show "the serious nature of our concerns about the plight of the Chagossians and about ... military activities on Diego Garcia". The pair hope to draw attention to the cause of the Chagos islanders, who were removed by the UK in 1971 to make way for the base, following an agreement with the US, and have still not been able to return permanently, despite victories in high court actions in London.
The statement said the protest was also against the recent use of Diego Garcia by the US for the transportation of prisoners being "rendered ... without regard to even the most basic and accepted concepts of justice". It added that although some Chagossians had been allowed to return temporarily to clean and restore graveyards, they should be allowed to return permanently.
A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed last night that two men had been detained "after entering the waters illegally". He added that an investigation was continuing. Bouquet, a former member of the merchant navy, made his first protest against whaling off Iceland more than 30 years ago. Castle has been involved mainly in environmental campaigns. Both men said that they were motivated by Quaker ideals "that you should bear witness to a crime, even if you cannot stop it happening".
The arrests come in a week in which MPs and human rights groups have demanded an independent inquiry into the use of Diego Garcia by the CIA. Lord Malloch Brown, the Foreign Office minister, has spoken to Manfred Novak, the UN's special investigator on torture, about the alleged use of Diego Garcia as a detention centre for holding US suspects. Last month, the foreign secretary, David Miliband, admitted to MPs that, contrary to earlier assurances, two CIA flights had landed at the base, each with a detainee on board. It has also been alleged that detainees have been interrogated at the base, although the foreign secretary has denied the claims.
I'm an old friend of Jon's in Guernsey. Just thought you'd like to know he rang me yesterday (Tues 11 March) from the police station in Diego Garcia. He wanted some legal advice before being interviewed by the B.I.O.T. police, so I set it up for him to ring a friend of mine, who is a local lawyer. He sounded absolutely fine and as always calm (no surprise there - when did you ever see Jon ruffled in a tense situation?!) He was using the phone at the station and said he and Pete were being held in an air conditioned cell in good conditions and were being allowed to seek legal advice before being interviewed and going before the magistrate. In order words following the normal UK legal procedure, that the British police would follow.
"The Oceans are not up for grabs. They brought us life and we owe it to our kids
to keep it that way"
