Diego Garcia
| Diego Garcia | ||
|---|---|---|
.jpg) |
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| Waters | Indian Ocean | |
| archipelago | Chagos Archipelago | |
| Geographical location | 7 ° 18 ′ S , 72 ° 24 ′ E | |
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| Number of islands | 4th | |
| Main island | Diego Garcia | |
| Land area | 27.19 km² | |
| Lagoon area | 174 km² | |
| Residents | 4239 | |
Diego Garcia is the largest atoll by land area in the Chagos Archipelago , the last remaining part of British Indian Ocean Territory . The main island of the atoll of the same name is the largest single island in the archipelago.
Location and dates
The atoll is located 733 kilometers south of Gan Island , the southernmost island of the Maldives , and 1863 kilometers east of the Seychelles ( Praslin Island ). Diego Garcia is located on the Central Indian Ridge in the middle of the Indian Ocean .
The highest point on the island is 20 meters above sea level, but the average altitude is only 1.2 meters. The area of the island is 27.19 km².
In addition to the main island of Diego Garcia, which forms an almost closed atoll ring in the shape of a horseshoe, there are three small islands in the 6.4 km wide opening in the north:
- West Iceland (3.4 ha )
- Middle Island (6 ha)
- East Island (11.75 ha)
The USA initially leased the island until 2016 and then until 2036 and used it exclusively for military or secret service purposes. The strategically favorable location between Africa , Australia , India and the Arabian Peninsula makes the island interesting for this use. In the course of military use, an airfield with a 3659 meter long runway was created ( IATA code NKW / ICAO code FJDG ). There is also a small port on this island.
Also due to this use, one medium wave (1485 AM), two ultra short wave radio stations (Power 99 FM and 101.9 FM) and three television stations (Island 8, Newsports 10 and Tropical 12) are operated there. All types of connection (other television and radio stations, telephone and internet ) are handled via satellite . The associated ground station is operated by Cable & Wireless Diego Garcia. Even in Central Europe, shortwave listeners are reported to have received the American Forces Network shortwave transmitter on the frequencies 12,759 kHz or 4,319 kHz in the upper sideband.
history
The first discovery of the uninhabited islands is attributed to the Portuguese navigator, explorer and diplomat Pedro Mascarenhas in 1512, who named the islands Dom Garcia in honor of his patron Garcia de Noronha . But it is generally assumed that the name is mainly due to the Spaniard of Portuguese descent Diego García de Moguer . He led a Portuguese expedition in 1544 and rediscovered the Chagos Archipelago. He named the largest of the islands after himself. He died on the way back to Portugal off the South African coast in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The addition "Diego" in the island name may be due to an incorrect copy of Portuguese maps by the British. A corruption of Deo Gracias (“Thank God”) is also an option for naming the name. The details of the discovery and the actual origin of the name are still undocumented.
The island was formally part of Portugal until shortly after 1700 , after which it was claimed by France and administered from Mauritius . After the end of the Napoleonic Wars , France had to cede Diego Garcia together with Mauritius to Great Britain .
Since the end of the 18th century, the islands have been colonized by Europeans (plantation founders and residents of a leper colony ), their black slaves and later by Indians. In 1838 slavery was abolished . In 1859 there were 338 residents. The first church was built in 1895. The population, called Îlois or Chagossians , grew to 1200 to 2000 people by the end of the 1960s. Until 1971 the most important economic factor was an oil made from coconuts ( copra ).
In 1965 Great Britain separated the island from the administration of Mauritius, so that Diego Garcia could stay with Great Britain with the upcoming independence from Mauritius in 1968. The island was then leased from Great Britain to the USA for 50 years.
In the years that followed, residents were gradually forcibly relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles while military and intelligence structures were built up. Compensation for the forced relocation has been promised to the Mauritius government. But the money flowed only sparingly, and since the inhabitants, descendants of African slaves, only spoke Creole and were illiterate, they found it difficult to integrate into the new environment and ended up mostly in the slums of Port Louis .
After the disaster on the Columbia space shuttle on February 1, 2003, Diego Garcia was selected as the emergency landing site for further space shuttle missions. There is also an observation facility ( GEODSS ) of the Space Surveillance System on the island.
Legal disputes over the island
In November 2000 the Îlois were granted the right to return to their homeland by an English court. With the help of an Order in Council , the British government defied this judgment. This was condemned in 2007 by an appeals court as an abuse of power. The British House of Lords contradicted this as the last instance . A lawsuit against this has been filed with the European Court of Human Rights . At the end of 2012, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that it had no jurisdiction over the Chagossian case. In early 2013 the Chagossians filed a lawsuit against the United Kingdom at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague .
In April 2006 a group of 100 Chagossians were able to visit the Chagos Archipelago at the expense of the British Foreign Office .
In April 2010, the entire Chagos Archipelago was declared a marine reserve by the British government.
The island state of Mauritius has been claiming the archipelago since 2011, local politicians speak of an "incomplete decolonization" in connection with the current status of the island.
In April 2012, an international petition was submitted to the United States to ask the White House to review the Chagossians' case. An official response was posted on the White House petition page. It transferred jurisdiction over the Chagossian case to the United Kingdom.
The British government is of the opinion that a return of the residents and their descendants is only possible if there is no need for further military use. This is also confirmed by the fact that the contract for military use by the US ran until 2016 and was then extended to 2036.
The 2000 ruling also confirmed the Îlois' British citizenship , which means they were also EU citizens until the United Kingdom left the European Union on February 1, 2020 local time.
In February 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled in favor of the Îlois that the separation of Diego Garcia from Mauritius was a violation of its territorial integrity and that the decolonization could not be fully carried out. The ICJ expressed the view that Great Britain should return Diego Garcia to Mauritius as soon as possible.
Military use
history
From the end of the 1960s, a joint military base for Great Britain and the USA was established on the island, on which around 1,700 members of the armed forces and 2,000 civilian employees are normally stationed. Between 1966 and 1976, the two governments signed three agreements regulating use. In 1973 the US secret service NSA opened a listening post on the island to monitor the movements of Soviet warships . Strategically, the island served to control and, if necessary, to combat the shipping traffic of the Soviet Union and the then allied India in the Indian Ocean.
It was planned to station four Northrop B-2 bombers on Diego Garcia from 1993 . It was not until Operation Enduring Freedom 2001 that some Northrop B-2 bombers were moved to Diego Garcia. The planned strength of four machines was only achieved in 2004. Four gold-colored domes were erected for this purpose; These are Extra Large Deployable Aircraft Hangar Systems (formerly: B-2 Shelter Program or B-2 Shelter System ), which are required for the maintenance of the B-2.
During the US military operations in the Gulf region ( Second and Third Gulf War and the deployment in Afghanistan after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 in the USA ), Diego Garcia carried out bombing raids.
In August 2003 it became known that a prison camp based on the model of Guantanamo Bay in Cuba had been set up on Diego Garcia . The Washington Post According alleged in the little-known camps were Al-Qaeda -Terroristen detained, interrogated and tortured . Until the accidental exposure of the camp, unlike the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, it was a completely secret camp .
Current status
The following units are located on the island:
- Navy Installations Command (Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia [NAVSUPPFAC DG])
- US Naval Computer and Telecommunications Station Far East Detachment (NCTSFE DET)
- Military Sealift Command Office (MSCO)
- Maritime Pre-positioning Ship Squadron (COMPSRON) TWO
- Branch Health Clinic (BHC), part of the US Naval Hospital Yokosuka, Japan
- American Forces Network (AFN) Diego Garcia
- Public Works Department (PWD), Naval Facilities Engineering Command Far East (NAVFAC FE)
- Personnel Support Activity Detachment (PSD)
- US Fleet and Industrial Supply Center (FISC), Diego Garcia Detachment
- Air Mobility Command (AMC) Detachment ONE, 730 AMS
- Automated Remote Tracking Station (ARTS) Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) Detachment 2, 22nd Space Operations Squadron
- Ground-based Electro Optical Deep Space Surveillance (GEODSS) Air Force Space Command Detachment TWO, 21 Operations Group
- Pacific Air Force (PACAF) Detachment ONE, 36th Mission Support Group (MSG)
Great Britain plans to make greater use of the military base again, although only 50 of the 3250 soldiers stationed on Diego Garcia (2010) belong to the British armed forces . In addition, in March 2010 a shipping company was commissioned to deliver 192 BLU-116 warheads. A large number of joint direct attack ammunition has also been supplied to the US Air Force . This was already decided in January 2010 by a contract with a shipping company from Florida, which is said to have received 699,500 US dollars for the execution of the transport.
The facilities are shared by the US Navy and the US Air Force. Among other things, Diego Garcia serves the US Navy as a base for ship units to supply naval units and to transport military equipment for ground troops. The US Air Force has units with long-range bombers (mainly Boeing B-52 bombers and Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers for air refueling) and AWACS aircraft stationed there.
In spring 2007 it was reported that the US armed forces are building a submarine port on Diego Garcia, from which converted nuclear submarines can drop smaller submarines close to the coast for targeted, quickly carried out and executed commandos ( see United States Navy SEALs ). From Diego Garcia, for example, Iran or Pakistan can be reached in a relatively short time.
In March 2010 it was reported that the equipment would be significantly increased in 2010 and the upgrade of Diego Garcia would begin. In April 2010, Great Britain announced the creation of a marine reserve for the entire Chagos Archipelago. US military use can be sustained until at least 2036.
protest
Two small boats, the “People's Navy”, set off for the Chagos Archipelago in December 2007 to draw attention to the situation of the exiled population. After a 2000 mile journey, Pete Bouquet and Jon Castle, the crew of the Musichana boat , were arrested off Diego Garcia on March 8, 2008 and deported to Great Britain via Singapore on March 22, 2008.
Diego Garcia in fiction
- In the US film Transformers - The Revenge (2009), Diego Garcia is the base of the secret task force NEST.
- With the punk song Diego Garcia on their album The Stormy Petrel (2010), the British band Leatherface has created a musical memorial for the island's displaced residents.
literature
- David Vine: Island of Shame. The Secret History of the US Military Base on Diego Garcia . Princeton University Press, Princeton / Oxford 2009, ISBN 978-1-4008-2997-2 (English).
- Peter H. Sand : Diego Garcia. Black hole in the Indian Ocean? In: Journal for Foreign and Security Policy . tape 2 , no. 4 . VS-Verlag, October 9, 2009, p. 403-413 , doi : 10.1007 / s12399-009-0105-3 .
- Peter H. Sand : Atoll Diego Garcia: Nature protection between human rights and power politics. Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-8316-4055-3 .
Web links
- John Pilger : Stealing a Nation. Documentary about the former inhabitants of the uninhabited islands until the end of the 18th century. Granada Television , broadcast on July 31, 2004 ( video online on Vimeo , 56:40 min, English).
- Michael Vosatka: The fight of the “Tarzans and Fridays” to return to Diego Garcia. The standard from 2ß. August 2020.
Individual evidence
- ^ Mark E. Rosen: Is Diego Garcia at Risk of Slipping from Washington's Grasp? In: The National Interest . September 19, 2017, accessed November 30, 2017.
- ↑ Airport data on World Aero Data ( English, as of 2006 )
- ↑ Airport data in the Aviation Safety Network (English).
- ↑ Josmael Bardour: Cronologia dos descobrimentos portugueses (1415-1543). In: Portugal Marítimo. April 29, 2011, Retrieved October 3, 2016 (Portuguese).
- ^ Ted A. Morris: Dom Garcia or Diego Garcia? In: The Diego Garcia Test Question. Retrieved October 3, 2016 .
- ^ Space Shuttle Emergency Landing Sites. In: GlobalSecurity.org . Retrieved October 3, 2016 .
- ↑ George Lewis: Space Surveillance Sensors: GEODSS (Ground-based Electro-Optical Deep Space Surveillance) System. In: mostlymissiledefense. August 20, 2012, accessed October 3, 2016 .
- ^ Scott King: Satellite Provides Vital Information to Military. United States Department of Defense , May 1, 2006, accessed October 3, 2016 .
- ↑ Marc Engelhardt: Expelled from Paradise. In: taz.de . January 29, 2009, accessed October 3, 2016.
- ↑ Chagos Islanders against the United Kingdom. Decision of the fourth section of the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. In: HUDOC database European Court of Human Rights , December 11, 2012, accessed on October 3, 2016.
- ↑ Owen Bowcott, John Vidal: Britain faces UN tribunal over Chagos Islands marine reserve. In: The Guardian . Guardian News & Media Ltd., January 28, 2013, accessed October 3, 2016.
- ↑ In pictures: Chagossians' visit. In: BBC News . April 10, 2006, accessed October 3, 2016.
- ↑ Diego Garcia – Flight MH370: Will the US base be closed? In: Epoch Times . April 22, 2014, accessed October 3, 2016.
- ^ The US Government Must Redress Wrongs Against the Chagossians. (No longer available online.) In: petitions.whitehouse.gov. March 5, 2012, archived from the original on December 9, 2016 ; Retrieved October 3, 2016 (English, petition on We the People with response from the US government). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ The American-British base Diego Garcia violates international law heise.de, from February 26, 2019
- ↑ London is to return the Chagos Archipelago In: tagesschau.de . February 26, 2019, accessed February 26, 2019.
- ↑ Johannes Kuhn: London's role in the CIA torture program: water damage causes the British government to find explanations. (No longer available online.) In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. July 10, 2014, archived from the original on September 23, 2016 ; accessed on October 3, 2016 .
- ^ Tenant Commands. In: Naval Support Facility Diego Garcia. Commander, Navy Installations Command (CNIC), accessed October 3, 2016 (listing of deployed units).
- ^ Report: US shipping arms ahead of strike on Iran. In: Ynetnews News . Yedioth Media Group, March 17, 2010, accessed October 3, 2016.
- ↑ Lewis Page: US Navy builds Stingray-esque base in Indian Ocean. In: The Register. April 7, 2007, accessed October 3, 2016.
- ↑ Rob Edwards: Bunker-breaking bombs for an attack on Iran? In: background. Verlag Selbrund GmbH, March 19, 2010 (English: Final destination Iran? Article for the Sunday Herald of March 14, 2010. Translated by Wolfgang Jung), accessed on October 3, 2016.
- ↑ The world's largest marine reserve has a dark side. In: derStandard.at . November 3, 2010, accessed October 3, 2016.
- ↑ David Stringer: UK Creates World's Largest Marine Reserve. In: US News . US News & World Report LP, April 2, 2010, accessed October 3, 2016.
- ^ Duncan Campbell: British campaigners arrested at sea in Diego Garcia protest. In: The Guardian . Guardian News & Media Ltd., March 12, 2008, accessed October 3, 2016.
- ↑ Kerstin Eitner: Bomb Paradise . In: Greenpeace magazine . Edition 4.08. 2008, ISSN 1611-3462 ( online [accessed October 3, 2016]).
- ↑ Peter Bradshaw: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Movie review. In: The Guardian . Guardian News & Media Ltd., June 19, 2009, accessed October 3, 2016.
