Some very interesting news was brought to our attention thanks to our ever increasing reach on the Twitter platform, the significance of which seems to have slipped largely under the radar in the wider media. Defi Media Group report that 40,000 tonnes of rocks are being exported from Mauritius to Diego Garcia with the intention of filling in sea area to enable expansion of the military base. Furthermore Mauritian Foreign Affairs Minister Arvin Boolell seemed entirely relaxed about the news and stressed that the common arrangement did not jeopardise their own claims for sovereignty over the islands.
That may be the case, but the British Government has continued to pledge publicly that no decision has been taken over the future of the base beyond 2016 and that once the issue is on the table, Parliament will be consulted and kept informed. For a decision which is not yet taken, this would appear to be a very pre-emptive decision by the US Government to expand the base if it did not already know what the future of the Islands would hold beyond the existing lease.
Pertinent questions do remain over this rather unusual cargo which is being exported to the Chagos Islands in such vast volumes.
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