I was pleased to read Raj Meetarbhan?s editorial (Le droit de la force) in Tuesday?s issue. Generally, people in Mauritius (the media included) do not give a damn about the Chagos Archipelago and the plight of the Chagossians. I do understand that so many years after the illegal excision of the Chagos islands from Mauritius most people are suffering from compassion fatigue. As for the younger generation, they are so individualistic (and ignorant!) that they would not even bother to do their home work to find out for themselves what actually happened in the years prior to the elevation of Mauritius to the status of an independent state in 1968. The predicament of others is simply not their problem!

I liked the stand taken by Navin Ramgoolam and also by the attitude of Paul Bérenger in the National Assembly with regard to the question of our sovereignty over the Chagos.

However, sometimes in Little Mauritius (I am not being contemptuous here), politicians give the impression that they can move and shake the world! But even with international law on our side and a series of high profile legal victories in UK courts of law, we are nothing but a drop in the vast Indian Ocean.

The Americans have always made it abundantly clear that Diego Garcia is important for their security. This clearly indicates that come 2016 they will seek permission from their closest ally, the UK, for an extension of their presence on Diego Garcia, the biggest US military base outside the USA ? an extension for 20 years and perhaps ad infinitum.

Gordon Brown is in deep trouble at the moment. He will most certainly lose the next general elections. Disappointingly, he has shown that he is not unlike Blair. He too will toe the American line when it comes to the so-called ?war on terror?. And, what is even more pathetic is that when the Americans treat their closest ally with so much contempt (eg by keeping the Brits in the dark over ?rendition flights? on Diego Garcia), Brown still feels obliged to maintain British troops in Iraq, increase their numbers in Afghanistan and curtail civil liberties in the UK. Anyone who has followed how he got a pre-charge detention period of 42 days through the House of Commons would know what I am talking about. He feels he has to appear ?tough?, not because he thinks he is accountable to the British electorate but rather because he does not want to upset George W Bush and the hawks in Washington.

What Mauritius needs to tap into is international solidarity. For instance, there are many people in high places in the UK who would support Mauritius and the Chagossians. There are MPs across the political spectrum, journalists from the best newspapers in the country, members of the public and very influential and credible NGOs who can all add their voices to the chorus of all those (lawyers, people in Mauritius and elsewhere) who have been at the forefront of this tug of war between Mauritius and the United Kingdom.

We must never underestimate the strength of public opinion globally and the help we might get at an international level from people who are genuinely concerned about our sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago and the Chagossians? right to return to their homelands.

Noor Adam Essack</B> <I>London, 17 June 2008</I>