2580. 🇮🇴 The End Of The British Indian Ocean Territory.

 

The United Kingdom To Hand Over British Indian Ocean Territory To Mauritius.

3 October 2024 -

There will be no more stamps inscribed British Indian Ocean Territory. On 3 October 2024 the British government announced that it had agreed to hand over its overseas territory made up of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. In 1965 the islands which included the Outer islands of Seychelles including Aldabra, Farquhar, Cosmoledo and Desroches and the Chagos Islands, including the atoll of Diego Garcia,  which had always been British sovereign territory since the 18th century but had been administered from the then British colony of Mauritius, were all combined to form the British Indian Ocean Territory.

  The outer Seychelles islands were included in the Republic of Seychelles when it became independent in 1976. Meanwhile, in preparation for the building of a giant United States-United Kingdom base on Diego Garcia, the British shamefully expelled the Chagossians from the remaining islands where their families had lived since the 18th century and they were moved either to Mauritius or to Britain.

  The giant base was built and mail services were operated by the US and British military postal services but to provide a postal service initially for the local inhabitants until they were expelled and then afterwards for the necessary civilian workers on Diego Garcia, a BIOT postal service was inaugurated and the first postage stamps released on 17 January 1968 in the form of overprints on the contemporary Seychelles definitive set. This issue was replaced by stamps with bespoke designs released on 23 October 1968 using artwork of local marine life by a former resident, Mrs Veevers-Carter.

  After the granting of Seychelles independence in 1976 issues ceased but were re instituted on 3 May 1990 to serve the mail needs of the base’s civilian workers and this resulted in a new issue to mark the London 1990 International Philatelic Exhibition which was released on 3 May 1990. A new definitive issue depicting local birds was also released on the same date and subsequently 2 stamps and 1 miniature sheet depicting the flag, arms and map of the territory were issued on 8 November 1990.

  After the recommencement of BIOT stamps, the government of Mauritius found it opportune to claim the territory as its sovereign territory though Chagos had never been part of the possessions of Mauritius as the Agalega Islands and Rodrigues had been. The weight of ‘anti colonialist’ opinion grew against the United Kingdom and eventually after a United Nations General Assembly resolution of 22 June 2017, the International Court of Justice ruled on 25 February 2019 that the United Kingdom was under an obligation to bring its administration in the Chagos to an end and that the islands should never had been separated from Mauritius (choosing to ignore that Chagos had never been part of Mauritius).

  Subsequently, the Universal Postal Union ruled effectively on 24 August 2021 that stamps inscribed British Indian Ocean Territory should no longer be recognised as valid for use on international mail. Subsequently no further BIOT stamps were issued. The final issue was a miniature sheet containing 6 different stamps featuring angelfish which was released just days before the UPU’s ruling on 8 June 2021.

  The new UK-Mauritius agreement for the transfer of sovereignty includes continuing operation of the US-UK base for an “initial period of 99 years” and Mauritius’ enactment of resettlement of the Chagos Islands other than Diego Garcia. Inevitably the United Kingdom will pay a package of financial support to Mauritius including annual payments and infrastructure support. Importantly, the USA president, Biden, whose catastrophic reaction to the Taliban assault on Kabul allowed the overthrow of the Afghan government and the reassertion of Taliban rule in Afghanistan, is supporting the transfer of sovereignty, calling it a “historic deal” and presumably this agreement with Mauritius which has close links with communist China has been signed off by the American military leaders who have long been queasy about the cession of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The Indian government may also feel nervous about a Chinese ally getting its hand on Chagos and the vast expanse of ocean surrounding the islands.

  Regardless of all this international power play, philatelists now have a new ‘dead country’ as we say farewell to the stamps of the British Indian Ocean Territory.