Mosquitoes, rats, little food: How Farage-backed mission to reclaim Chagos Islands became a survival test

What began as a dramatic political protest against Britain’s plan to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has turned into an increasingly difficult struggle for survival for a group of Chagossians who remain on the remote Indian Ocean archipelago.

In February, a nine-member expedition, backed by Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, travelled to the disputed territory in an attempt to establish a permanent Chagossian presence there. The group included former Conservative MP Adam Holloway, four British Chagossians, a journalist and support crew. They jokingly named the mission “Operation Certain Death”.

Six months later, the expedition has taken a very different turn. Holloway, the journalist and other members have returned, but several Chagossians have remained on the island and are reportedly struggling to secure basic necessities, including clean water, food and medical assistance.

Holloway, who left the island after about 10 days, described the conditions as extremely difficult, pointing to the tropical heat, mosquitoes and rats. “It’s not easy living there,” he told the Financial Times.

From political protest to a fight for survival

The expedition was intended to put pressure on the British government to reconsider its proposed transfer of sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius. The participants sought to demonstrate that Chagossians could return to and inhabit their ancestral homeland, decades after they were forcibly removed.

The plan was controversial from the beginning. Critics dismissed it as an unauthorised publicity stunt, while its supporters argued that physically returning to the islands was a way of asserting the Chagossians’ long-standing claim to their homeland.

However, the reality of staying on an island that has had no permanent civilian population for decades has proved considerably harder.

Members remaining on the island have had to depend on fishing and whatever limited supplies they brought with them. Misley Mandarin, one of the expedition members, said that fishing has become part of their daily routine, with the catch serving as their food.

The group also arrived without the necessary permission to settle there. Yet efforts to remove them have become legally complicated, leaving the Chagossians in a precarious position while they attempt to maintain their presence.

Recent reports have highlighted the lack of adequate shelter and supplies, while the difficult environment has compounded the problems of those who have chosen to remain.

How Chagossians were driven from their homeland

The current dispute is rooted in a much older chapter of Britain’s colonial history.

The Chagos Archipelago, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, was first administered by France, which brought workers from Madagascar and Mozambique to labour on plantations. Over generations, a distinct Chagossian community developed, with its own culture and identity. Workers from South Asia were also brought to the islands later.

When Britain took control of the territory, the islands were administered alongside Mauritius. But their strategic importance grew during the Cold War.

In the 1960s, Britain reached an agreement with Mauritius under which Mauritius dropped its claim to the Chagos Islands as part of the arrangements surrounding its independence. Britain subsequently separated the archipelago from Mauritius and established the British Indian Ocean Territory in 1965.

The UK then proceeded to remove the Chagossian population. Between the late 1960s and early 1970s, roughly 2,000 people were displaced to Mauritius and the Seychelles, with some eventually settling in Britain.

The removals were linked to plans for a joint US-UK military facility on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the archipelago. The base remains strategically important and has played a role in US military operations across the Indian Ocean and wider region.

For decades, Britain disputed the Chagossians’ description of themselves as an indigenous population, instead characterising them as temporary workers.

Britain’s Chagos deal and the question of return

The dispute entered a new phase in October 2024, when Britain announced an agreement under which sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago would be transferred to Mauritius.

Under the proposed arrangement, Mauritius would be able to pursue resettlement of Chagossians on the islands, although Diego Garcia would remain outside that resettlement programme.

The agreement has offered hope to Chagossians who have spent decades campaigning for the right to return. But it has also generated opposition, including from sections of the British political right who argue that the UK should retain sovereignty over the islands.

Farage has been among the most vocal opponents of the transfer. The February expedition was part of that broader campaign, with supporters seeking to turn the question of Chagossian resettlement into a physical and political reality.

Yet the conditions confronting those who remain underline the enormous gap between the political idea of “returning home” and the practical challenge of rebuilding life on islands that have been largely abandoned for more than half a century.