Background:
Established as a territory of the UK in 1965, a number of the
British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) islands were transferred to
the Seychelles when it attained independence in 1976. Subsequently,
BIOT has consisted only of the six main island groups comprising the
Chagos Archipelago. The largest and most southerly of the islands,
Diego Garcia, contains a joint UK-US naval support facility. All of
the remaining islands are uninhabited. Former agricultural workers,
earlier residents in the islands, were relocated primarily to
Mauritius but also to the Seychelles, between 1967 and 1973. In
2000, a British High Court ruling invalidated the local immigration
order that had excluded them from the archipelago, but upheld the
special military status of Diego Garcia.