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What you should know ?
● HOW DID INDEPENDENCE COME ABOUT? Talks - and pressure - had started way before 1968 but the population was divided on the matter. A political pressure group, led by Jules Koenig?s PMSD, was against the idea of independence because they feared Hindus would control the country and minority groups would be discriminated against. The support of the CAM, led by Abdul Razack Mohamed, enabled the Labour party to get the majority needed.
● WHY DID SO MANY MAURITIANS LEAVE BEFORE INDEPENDENCE? The campaign led by the PMSD made people of European and mixed Creole background believe life would be unbearable with a "Hindu" leadership. The PMSD wanted Mauritius to remain a dependency of Great Britain. Mauritians emigrated mainly to Australia and South Africa. However, after independence, the PMSD joined a Labour-led coalition to counter Paul Bérenger?s newly formed MMM.
l What price did Mauritius have to pay? Several rounds of talks were held at Lancaster House in London, that ultimately led to Mauritius obtaining independence, but at the price of the excision of the Chagos Archipelago from the territory. Participants in the talks have always been unwilling to divulge how exactly this came about, which increased the perception that SSR "sold" Chagos to the British. Independence came without bloodshed but racist fights broke out between Creoles and Muslims shortly before independence.
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