LONDON (AP) — Bernadette Dugasse was just a toddler when her family was forced to leave her birthplace, the Chagos Islands. She didn’t get a chance to return until she was a grandmother, and only for a visit.
Dugasse, 68, has spent most of her life in the Seychelles and the U.K. Like hundreds of others native to the Indian Ocean islands, Dugasse was kicked out of her homeland more than half a century ago when the British and U.S. governments decided to build an important military base there.
After years of fighting for the right to go home, Dugasse and other displaced islanders watched in despair Thursday as the U.K. government announced it was formally transferring the Chagos Islands’ sovereignty to Mauritius.
While political leaders spoke about international security and geopolitics, the deal meant only one thing for Chagossians: That the prospect of ever going back to live in their homeland now seems more out of reach than ever.
“We are the natives. We belong there,” said Dugasse, who has reluctantly settled in Crawley, a town south of London. “It made me feel enraged because I want to go home.”
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