Description

By ‘The Road to Crawley Project’

In 1965 the UK and US governments struck a deal that saw 2000 British citizens lose their homes on the island of Diego Garcia. The following years saw the islanders of Diego Garcia forcibly removed from their homes and sent to live in Mauritius with no accommodation or money so that their island could be leased by Britain to the USA for the site of a US Military Base.

Today the US military base on Diego Garcia houses over 4000 military personnel. The base has proved a site of strategic importance for the US military in their recent actions against Afghanistan and Iraq. The Diego Garcian population are still banned from returning home.

This documentary explores the history of the islanders forced removal from Diego Garcia their experiences in the slums of Mauritius and their journey to the UK. The final part of the documentary explores the future for the islanders, what the government is doing to help them now and examines the question of their return to the island

DVD. 60 minutes