Collector coins of Britain's uninhabited overseas territories

[<k>]

UK suffers crushing defeat in UN vote on Chagos Islands

The United Nations general assembly has overwhelmingly backed a motion condemning Britain's occupation of the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.

The vote, which left the UK diplomatically isolated, set a six-month deadline for the UK to withdraw from the archipelago and for it to be reunified with neighbouring Mauritius.

The motion, drafted by Senegal on behalf of African states, was backed by 116 countries. Only five – the US, Hungary, Israel, Australia and the Maldives – voted with the UK and 56 abstained.

The UK's closest European allies, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland and Romania, chose to abstain. Others, among them Austria, Greece, Ireland, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland, voted for the UK to relinquish sovereignty.

[eurocoin]

I am glad about the decision and hope it will eventually lead to the return of the Chagossians who have had to wait for this way too long. The 6-month deadline until November 22 is probably a bit short though. Disappointing that my country abstained from voting.

[Figleaf]

The UK's closest European allies, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Poland and Romania, chose to abstain.

There's a lesson here somewhere. If only we could find it.

Peter

[eurocoin]

There's a lesson here somewhere. If only we could find it.

Peter

Some would probably call it diplomacy. Personally I think they failed to set their own interests aside for what clearly appeared to be the greater good.

[eurocoin]

The deadline for the return of the Chagos Islands has now passed. Shortly after the deadline passed at midnight, the PM of Mauritius called the UK "an illegal colonial occupier".

In response, a Foreign Office spokesperson said: "The UK has no doubt as to our sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), which has been under continuous British sovereignty since 1814. Mauritius has never held sovereignty over the BIOT and the UK does not recognise its claim."

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From the Guardian (UK):

Chagos Islanders demand say as UK-Mauritius sovereignty talks begin

From The Conversation:

Why Britain should immediately withdraw from Mauritius' Chagos Islands

Time to buy some British Indian Ocean Territory collector pieces? Will they soon become outrageously valuable? Perhaps not. 

[quaziright]

As infamously valuable as the ISIS coins maybe? I don't think so, and yes that could be a bit harsh (not sure what chagosians think), but it deserves to be in the same sentence

[eurocoin]

Britain's plan to hand over 'unsinkable aircraft carrier' island in the Indian Ocean to Chinese ally Mauritius sparks row with US

Diplomatic tensions with Washington were growing last night after Britain was poised to surrender a UK-owned territory to a close ally of China – even though the island hosts a highly sensitive Anglo-American military base.

Diego Garcia, which was first claimed by the UK in 1814, is likely to be handed to Mauritius as part of a transfer of sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory, which comprises some 60 islands in the Chagos Archipelago.

The Mail on Sunday understands the White House has expressed 'serious concerns' about the plans due to the concentration of military hardware at the Naval Support Facility on the island, which has been called 'the unsinkable aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean'. The British base, which is leased to the US Navy, is home to some 1,700 military personnel and 1,500 civilian contractors, and includes port facilities, an airstrip capable of handling large aircraft, a support structure for submarine fleets, a sophisticated radar nerve centre and US Space Operations Command. The Pentagon fears Beijing is looking for a similar military foothold in the region and even possibly on Diego Garcia. Washington is increasingly concerned by the growing relationship between Mauritius and China. The two countries have already signed a free trade agreement as part of Beijing's 'Belt and Road Initiative' towards economic dominance.

News of the rising tensions came as world leaders yesterday warned China to halt its 'malign practices' and start 'playing by the rules'. In a strongly worded statement, leaders of the G7, including Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron, told China that they are no longer prepared to tolerate its 'economic coercion' and military expansionism. The leaders stated that while they are willing to build 'constructive and stable relations with China', that can only happen if the Communist superpower 'plays by international rules'. Concern about Beijing's rise has been a key theme of the summit, as has its recent sabre-rattling towards Taiwan.

Last night, senior Tory MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith urged the Government to draw up a new agreement with Mauritius to resolve the 'strategic mess' over Diego Garcia. He told The Mail on Sunday: 'The UK, with the USA, has to bring Mauritius on side with us, not with China. And that's got to happen now. 'The Government can't withdraw from there. They have got to come up with another agreement with Mauritius which will be more expensive but strategically critical.'

Last night, a senior Government source acknowledged that the US had expressed concerns about the move, which comes after international political and legal pressure. However, they added: 'We are in constant contact with the Americans about it.'

Deputy Prime Minister Oliver Dowden has been tasked by No 10 with trying to assuage the Americans' worries. One option is for the UK to take out a 99-year lease on the islands after sovereignty is transferred – similar to the arrangement London agreed with Peking in 1898 over Hong Kong, which was then returned to China in 1997.

The Government has previously rejected Mauritian claims over the islands, insisting that it would cede sovereignty only when the territory is no longer needed by Britain for defence purposes. But following international pressure, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly agreed to broker an agreement backed by international law to 'resolve all outstanding issues' while ensuring the effective operation of the base.

Foreign Office lawyers have advised that an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice saying that the UK should return the islands to Mauritius, which has been endorsed by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, means that a negotiated settlement will need to be found.  A source said: 'The legal advice is that we have to roll over to avoid a prolonged legal case, but the Americans have made their serious concerns clear.'

Since 2013, China has been using its Belt and Road Initiative to finance big projects in poor countries around the world – making them politically and economically indebted to Beijing and sucking them into its sphere of influence.

The UK supports American efforts to counter Chinese economic power, but has been more hesitant than Washington about criticising Beijing, with China 'doves' in the Government warning about the possible impact on future trade deals.

The Foreign Office said: 'The UK and Mauritius have held three rounds of constructive negotiations on the exercise of sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory/Chagos Archipelago. 'Officials will meet again shortly to continue negotiations. The UK and Mauritius have committed to protecting the operational effectiveness of the joint UK/US military base on Diego Garcia, which performs a vital role for regional and global security. 'The UK and Mauritius are close Commonwealth partners and negotiations also include increasing our co-operation on matters of shared interest in the region and more broadly. It would not be appropriate to discuss this issue or to speculate on outcomes while negotiations are ongoing.'

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Trump's top new security adviser compared Chagos Islands deal to chaotic Afghan withdrawal

Mike Waltz raised concerns about future of Diego Garcia airbase amid suggestions president-elect could block handover

Donald Trump has appointed a leading critic of the UK's Chagos Islands deal with Mauritius as his national security adviser, in the clearest indication yet that the president-elect will oppose the plan. Mr Trump, who will take office on Jan 20, appointed Mike Waltz to the key post of national security adviser on Monday, according to media reports. Mr Waltz, a Florida congressman, is a leading China hawk who has called for Nato countries to "share the burden" more fairly with the US by boosting their defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP.

He also opposed plans for the UK to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, in a deal that was finalised under Sir Keir Starmer's government last month. In December 2022, after reports that the Conservative government was planning to cede control to Mauritius, Mr Waltz wrote to the US defence secretary and secretary of state to oppose the plans. "Should the UK cede control of the Chagos to Mauritius, I have no doubt that China will take advantage of the resulting vacuum," he said. He said the deal would endanger the Diego Garcia air base on the islands, which he compared to the loss of the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan after the US's chaotic exit in August 2021. "I urge you to work with your UK counterparts to ensure that our countries retain control of Diego Garcia, as well as make certain that China is prohibited from militarising any of the other islands in the Chagos Archipelago," he said.

[...]

[Offa]

In 2007 a coin with a rather political theme was issued: the 25th anniversary of the liberation of South Georgia.

From Wikipedia:

The Falklands War was precipitated on 19 March 1982 when a group of Argentinians, posing as scrap metal merchants, occupied the abandoned whaling station at Leith Harbour on South Georgia. On 3 April the Argentine troops attacked and occupied Grytviken. Among the commanding officers of the Argentine Garrison was Alfredo Astiz, a Captain in the Argentine Navy who, years later, was convicted of felonies committed during the Dirty War in Argentina.

The island was recaptured by British forces on 25 April in Operation Paraquet. In 1985 South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands ceased to be administered as a Falkland Islands Dependency and became a separate territory. The King Edward Point base, which had become a small military garrison after the Falklands war, returned to civilian use in 2001 and is now operated by the British Antarctic Survey.

I remember the short interlude of the Falklands war very well. I was in my mid twenties at the time, and very excited by the news. Most of the population, including the official political opposition, got behind the government, despite the fact that most people had never even heard of the islands. Before long the troops sailed from Portsmouth on a sunny day, while some young women on the quayside took off their tops to give the departing troops a treat. I waited for a ringing declaration of war from Mrs Thatcher. To my frustration, it did not come. The BBC referred merely to "the Falklands crisis", and Mrs Thatcher deliberately kept the whole affair low-key as she first tried to negotiate with the Argentinians. This did not go well, and even some top American politicians were keen to keep their distance from Britain. Mrs Thatcher saw the whole issue as a moral one, in which a democracy (Britain) had been attacked by a military dictatorship, as Argentina then was.

After Grytviken, in South Georgia, was retaken by the British, Mrs Thatcher gave an interview to the Press in Downing Street. For reasons of security, she was not able to reveal too much, and eventually, tired with their questions, she told them, "Rejoice! Just rejoice at that news!" She was ridiculed for her use of that rather old-fashioned word, but by and large the population did experience a feeling of relief, though the Falklands themselves remained under Argentine occupation. Some people now wrongly believe that Mrs Thatcher used that phrase after the sinking of the Belgrano, but that is simply not true. News at the time was strictly controlled, and an old-fashioned bespectacled civil servant, looking as though he had stepped straight out of the 1930s, used to deliver news broadcasts that were already 3 to 5 days old and strictly censored. There was no public internet in Britain in those days, and we only had 3 TV channels.

Eventually Britain won back the Falkland Islands, with a lot of secret inside help from the US, Chile and even France, who all provided intelligence reports to Britain. Mrs Thatcher showed a determination and a cool head in a crisis, and her reputation as the Iron Lady was now complete. She never forgot her gratitude to General Pinochet of Chile, and she publicly supported him years later, when he was briefly arrested on a visit to Britain and detained by Tony Blair's government, at the request of the Spanish government, though he was later released without charge.

I was in the Royal Navy task force that liberated the islands in 1982, we first hit shore on South Georgia and apart from the Argentine prisoners we had taken there were only penguins, seals and elephant seals inhabiting the island. South Georgia is probably the most barren and inhospitable place that I had been to freezing cold with only a couple of derelict buildings in the old whaling station, as for money there were only Argentine pesos and UK sterling with no circulation coinage as basically the only people on the island were the task force personnel and the prisoners of war, the only real action was the SBS and Royal Marines storming the Argentine positions and severely damaging the submarine Santa Fe..

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Three cheers for Offa! I do not envy you, Offa, having to endure such a cold place.

Margaret Thatcher tells press to 'rejoice'.

[eurocoin]

UK's Chagos deal on hold to allow Trump review

US President-elect Donald Trump will be consulted on the UK's deal to hand over the Chagos Islands, where there is a joint US-UK military base, to Mauritius.

The UK announced in October it would cede sovereignty of the archipelago in the Indian Ocean, but maintain control of the base on the largest island Diego Garcia under a 99-year lease.
Efforts to get the treaty signed before Trump's inauguration on Monday had been made, the BBC understands, and it had been expected the Mauritian cabinet would approve the deal on Wednesday.
The deal had already been greenlit by the Biden administration but the UK prime minister's office on Wednesday said the incoming Trump government would now "consider" the deal.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it was "perfectly reasonable for the US administration to consider the detail" of any agreement. But shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said the latest development was "complete humiliation" for the prime minister because Labour had been "desperate to sign off the surrender of the Chagos Islands before President Trump returns to office". In October, President Biden had previously praised the "historic agreement" which he said secured the future of a base which "plays a vital role in national, regional, and global security."

It is unclear if Trump's administration would have any objection. The incoming president has not publicly commented on the deal. But the incoming US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said it poses a "serious threat", arguing it gives the islands to a country aligned with China. Mauritius has a trade agreement with China.

Reform UK leader and Trump ally Nigel Farage said he believed the agreement would damage Sir Keir's relations with the US president-elect. "When the Americans realise that... Diego Garcia, their most important military base in the world, may effectively be rendered pretty useless, I think the special relationship will be fractured in a way that will not be mended during the course of this government," he told the BBC.

But on Wednesday at Prime Minister's Questions, Sir Keir defended the deal, pointing out the negotiations had started under the last Tory government. He insisted the deal was the best way to safeguard the military base.

Reports had suggested Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam would sign off an agreement on Wednesday as he attended a cabinet meeting, but it was later announced his attorney general was travelling to London to continue talks.

The UK took control of the Chagos Islands, or British Indian Ocean Territory, from its then colony, Mauritius, in 1965 and went on to evict its population of more than 1,000 people to make way for the Diego Garcia base. Mauritius, which won independence from the UK in 1968, has maintained that the islands are its own, and the UN's highest court has ruled, in an advisory opinion, that the UK's administration of the territory is "unlawful".

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch said the prime minister was "negotiating a secret deal to surrender British territory and taxpayers in this country will pay for the humiliation". Badenoch said there was "no way we should be giving up British territory in Chagos", claiming Sir Keir was "rushing a deal which will be disastrous" and it would cost British taxpayers billions of pounds. The cost of the proposed deal to the UK has not been officially announced. In response to Badenoch, Sir Keir told PMQs the planned agreement would ensure the military base on Diego Garcia can continue operating effectively.

A deal over the Chagos Islands was first announced in October following years of negotiations. But weeks later, after his election, Mr Ramgoolam said he had reservations about the draft treaty and asked for an independent review.

In a joint statement in October, Mauritius and the UK said the deal would "address wrongs of the past and demonstrate the commitment of both parties to support the welfare of Chagossians".

The Chagos islanders – some in Mauritius and the Seychelles, but others living in Crawley in Sussex – do not speak with one voice on the fate of their homeland. Some have criticised the deal, saying they were not consulted in the negotiations.

Under the proposed deal, Mauritius will be able to begin a programme of resettlement on the Chagos Islands, but not on Diego Garcia.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has previously played down the criticism, saying it is a "very good deal" for "our national security" because it secured the legal basis of the Diego Garcia military base.

On Wednesday, diplomats said the decision to put the deal on hold until it was considered by the Trump administration made sense as the UK would not want its first engagement to be a row over islands deep in the Indian Ocean.

The Biden administration and US military and intelligence agencies had agreed to the original deal, accepting it put the legal status of the Diego Garcia on a more stable footing. But there were still questions within the US system about how much the new agreement might open the way for China to establish a strategic foothold in the islands.

It is unclear how incoming president Trump will act, what advice he might get in office and whether he would have time to consider an issue seen as second-order compared to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.