If the law lords do reject the government's final appeal, can the exiled Chagossians go back and survive. And do they even wish to try?

"We are very optimistic about being able to return," said Olivier Bancoult at his home in Cassis, where murals of palm-fringed beaches echo the theme of a half-remembered idyll.

With a photo on the wall of him and Nelson Mandela, he cuts an imposing figure. His Chagos Refugees Group (CRG) now has the backing of the majority of Chagossians on Mauritius and he is the driving force behind the bid to return which lay dormant until successful legal challenges in the UK courts over the last decade.

Bancoult claims that hundreds would return, making thems...

If the law lords do reject the government's final appeal, can the exiled Chagossians go back and survive. And do they even wish to try?

"We are very optimistic about being able to return," said Olivier Bancoult at his home in Cassis, where murals of palm-fringed beaches echo the theme of a half-remembered idyll.

With a photo on the wall of him and Nelson Mandela, he cuts an imposing figure. His Chagos Refugees Group (CRG) now has the backing of the majority of Chagossians on Mauritius and he is the driving force behind the bid to return which lay dormant until successful legal challenges in the UK courts over the last decade.

Bancoult claims that hundreds would return, making themselves self-sufficient through ecotourism and fishing.

"We understand that there is a US base on Diego Garcia and we have never asked for its closure but there is no reason why people should not be able to return to live there," said Bancoult, an electrician.

...Guardian

Tibet, Palestine and the politics of failure

...In this haphazard context, the chances of failure or success in achieving international recognition can be equally contingent. The arbitrary nature of states and frontiers in Africa, the middle east, central Asia and Latin America testifies to this, as do the examples of Belgium, Switzerland, and most recently Kosovo in Europe. Some entities gain established existence and recognition, others do not: there is no natural order in deciding their fate, even if larger political trends and dynamics may in some eras offer a more propitious context (see Tom Na...

Tibet, Palestine and the politics of failure

...In this haphazard context, the chances of failure or success in achieving international recognition can be equally contingent. The arbitrary nature of states and frontiers in Africa, the middle east, central Asia and Latin America testifies to this, as do the examples of Belgium, Switzerland, and most recently Kosovo in Europe. Some entities gain established existence and recognition, others do not: there is no natural order in deciding their fate, even if larger political trends and dynamics may in some eras offer a more propitious context (see Tom Nairn, "Globalisation and nationalism: the new deal", 7 March 2008).