We're here with members of the Chagossian community and
members of the government of Mauritius and we're gonna step ashore and visit the place
we've dreamed about, in my case just 13 years; in the case of the Chagossian community
for decades.
Forcible removal is a crime against humanity.
Not allowing them to return as the
British government seems hell-bent on doing is a crime against humanity and we want to do right
so there's an issue of humanity, there's an issue of justice, there's an issue of sovereignty.
A lot of people say international law isn't real but we're here and we're here
because of international law we have the right to be here and there's nothing the
British can do about that.
They do believe in the rule of law and ultimately they will
recognse that the Chagossians and the Mauritians will be back.
We've woken up once more with no internet as we went to bed with no internet.
The captain says that
she's never experienced this before but the British and the Americans know that we're here
and I think it's a reasonable conclusion
to suspect that they are jamming our signal so that we can't communicate.
I would like to think that no one would stoop so low to jam the internet on the boat, especially
those who claim that information should be should be free and information should be allowed to flow.
We are just reclaiming what has always been ours but for some time
has been under British occupation so we are now going to raise
the flag and I'm going to ask all the colleagues to sing the national anthem of Mauritius.
It is with great pride that I welcome you.
I am particularly delighted to see our Chagossian
sisters and brothers finally able to travel to their birthplace without any foreign escort.
You are back home with a degree of freedom that is special.
If i can borrow your satellite I would like to just call the PM and let him know that
we have done this and if you guys want to talk to him briefly maybe you could.
OK.
Good morning prime minister. Owen Bowcott from the Guardian here.
Do you think British officials will remove your Mauritian flags from the flagpole you have set up here this morning?
Or will they allow them to stay do you think?
So I'm not sure there will be anyone in our news desk in London yet,
but I will phone through the story very shortly when they wake up in London.
And discover that we've lost one of our overseas territories.
We haven't lost, we haven't lost ...
The UK or rather, let me put it this way,
the wrong that was done by the UK has been corrected.
This is the first time
Mauritius has led an expedition, he said ... sorry close single quotes.