Introducing “jamming devices” or “intercepting signals”, as the Americans ostensibly fear, is farthest on the minds of these coconut farmers. If their dream of building up the other islands into revenue-earning holiday destinations were to be fulfilled, it would still be possible — if undesirable for other reasons — for relatively faraway Diego Garcia’s military activities to carry on.

Urgent political intervention from as many international sources as possible is the need of the moment. After all, in the name of protecting “British subjects”, Britain did go to war to rescue 2000 Falkland islanders. Yet it doesn’t appear to care for the fate of another 2000 islanders — also British subjects — of Chagos. The Chagossians point wryly to the weather-beaten coffee-brown of their own skin as explanation.

South Asia is the region closest to and most affected by Diego Garcia. Are the countries of this region — otherwise very vocal champions of human rights and, at least one, an aspirant to global superpower status — listening?

The writer is South Asia bureau chief for ‘Der Spiegel’

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