This is a fascinating and shockingly current story. Thank you for the pointer.
"The depopulation of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago, that is, the compelled expulsion of the indigenous inhabitants of the island of Diego Garcia and the other islands of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) by the United Kingdom, at the request of the United States of America, began in 1968 and concluded on 27 April 1973 with the evacuation of Peros Banhos atoll.
...
On April 1, 2010, the British Cabinet announced the creation of the world’s largest Marine Protected Area (MPA) which consists of most of the Chagos Archipelago, homeland of the Chagossians. The MPA will prohibit extractive industry of all kinds, including commercial fishing and oil and gas exploration. Some Chagossians have claimed that this MPA was created to prevent the islanders from returning to the islands.
On December 1, 2010, a leaked US Embassy London diplomatic cable exposed British and US communications in creating the marine nature reserve. The cable relays exchanges between US Political Counselor Richard Mills and British Director of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Colin Roberts, in which Roberts 'asserted that establishing a marine park would, in effect, put paid to resettlement claims of the archipelago’s former residents'. The cable (reference ID '09LONDON1156')[citation needed] was classified as confidential and 'no foreigners', and leaked as part of the Cablegate cache."
"The depopulation of Chagossians from the Chagos Archipelago, that is, the compelled expulsion of the indigenous inhabitants of the island of Diego Garcia and the other islands of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) by the United Kingdom, at the request of the United States of America, began in 1968 and concluded on 27 April 1973 with the evacuation of Peros Banhos atoll.
...
On April 1, 2010, the British Cabinet announced the creation of the world’s largest Marine Protected Area (MPA) which consists of most of the Chagos Archipelago, homeland of the Chagossians. The MPA will prohibit extractive industry of all kinds, including commercial fishing and oil and gas exploration. Some Chagossians have claimed that this MPA was created to prevent the islanders from returning to the islands.
On December 1, 2010, a leaked US Embassy London diplomatic cable exposed British and US communications in creating the marine nature reserve. The cable relays exchanges between US Political Counselor Richard Mills and British Director of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Colin Roberts, in which Roberts 'asserted that establishing a marine park would, in effect, put paid to resettlement claims of the archipelago’s former residents'. The cable (reference ID '09LONDON1156')[citation needed] was classified as confidential and 'no foreigners', and leaked as part of the Cablegate cache."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depopulation_of_Chagossians_fro...