the judge said that we were inhabitants, and that started to be in power, one of us said that what the judge said means that we should be included. At this time we was included. And even now, we have a some people that is eligible and some not. I can have the British passport and my children could have the British passport, my wife whose parents are from Diego Garcia is not eligible, because she was borne before the 26 April 1965. Because the negotiation has started before. In the constitution British nationality says that if some born from a mother before 1982 it should not be eligible. For the main islands, now it is possible to have a British passport from the mother side. For the father, if he is not married civilly the children would not be eligible. You see, and now they have changed the law for people who were born in Britain, if you have a grandparents born there you can be eligible, but that doesn’t work for us. And it should be some flexibility for Chagossians because it is particular situation. And that’s why we say one of the reason why we want to know what happened with Falkland people, what happened with Spanish people, why we want to know what happened to aborigines. To see in what way… it should be very simple for the UK to find a solution for the Chagossians, instead of let the people living in poverty. How can we not continue to fight? and if the Mauritian government is not good that I meet with people of other countries, I say to them, what are you doing for me? you’re doing
nothing! Coming to the situation in Mauritius, we have a lot of people in poverty, we realize that, we’re suffering. But the difference we have those people who are suffering in Mauritius, they are in their own country, while we are living in poverty in a foreign country. Concerning UK, we are talking about problem of citizenship because there are many people living in the UK from many countries and Chagossians in UK are facing the same problems. We have a problem of communication, of health, of housing. At that time a lot of people thought to settle in UK, but it is not a better life there, we have to face a lot of problems. That’s also why our main object is to go back in our birthplace, because UK is not my birthplace, I cannot adapt myself in London, I prefer to be in my birthplace. L: How do you see the future of the campaign? Are you optimistic about what is happening in Istanbul or the future is going to be more legal or awareness raising? OB: This is something that I cannot understand. Do you know really what is going in Istanbul? I know about my case, I don’t know about Istanbul. They need information, they called me when I was in UK and ask me “could you tell us…” How can we accept that! You only want to know, if you got difficulties you come across… We should have a way of communication between us.
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