One of the most precious marine reserves in the world, home to sharks, turtles and rare tropical fish, will be opened to some fishing for the first time in 16 years under the UK government's deal to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Allowing non-commercial fishing in the marine protected area (MPA) is seen as an essential part of the Chagossian people's return to the islands, as the community previously relied on fishing as their main livelihood.
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Trump continued, pacing now. He spoke of weakness, of maps redrawn by hesitation, of allies who handed away strategic ground and called it diplomacy. If Britain could give up islands in the Indian Ocean, he asked, why should America hesitate in the Arctic? Greenland entered the room like a ghost-vast, white, and suddenly very real.
The granddaughter of one of those residents was in tears as she thought about her homeland's history when she landed at Heathrow. "My grandmother was a British Chagossian," said Rebecca Philippe. "Fifty years ago, she was uprooted from her island, and we have seen her suffering. By seeing her suffering, we suffered too, with her."