Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has accused the UK Government of trying to wreck his mission to help four Chagossians who are trying to establish a settlement on an uninhabited island on the archipelago. Mr Farage flew to the Maldives with equipment and planned to make the 24-hour journey to the island, Île du Coin. A boat was due to depart carrying medicine and food, but plans have been derailed.
The Telegraph said it understood the voyage to the island 300 miles south of the Maldives had been halted by “a combination of threats, mechanical problems and an insistence by UK authorities that only trained crew should be on board”. Mr Farage was expected to return to the UK on Saturday night, with the boat making the journey without him. The Reform leader claimed he received a phone call from a senior source inside the Maldives government who warned him that the UK Government did not want him to set foot on the island.
He said: “The British Government has made every effort to prevent me heading towards the Chagos Islands. They have asked the Maldives government to stop me from leaving here and setting foot on the boat. This was information conveyed to me by a senior figure in the Maldives government.
“I cannot believe such an attempt has been made to stop a British citizen from reaching British territory. My source told me the British were ‘very concerned’ about me and wanted to know why I was here. This trip is a humanitarian mission, and I don’t want my presence to jeopardise that.”
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The Chagossian campaigners arrived on the island on Monday, alongside former MP Adam Holloway. They had sailed from Sri Lanka with the goal of establishing a permanent settlement.
They were served with eviction papers by British authorities, but a UK court blocked the deportation order. The group included Michel Mandarin, 74, who was born on the islands but forcibly removed at the age of 14; Misley Mandarin, his son, leads the group.
The Foreign Office has been invited to comment.
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