‘I will be free’: excitement grows as cruise ship nears Chagos Islands

Exiles intend to plant Mauritian flag on land UK claims as part of British Indian Ocean Territory

For Olivier Bancoult, of the Chagos Refugee Group, it was the sight of two skuas gliding over the waves that heralded long-promised landfall on his native islands.

During the first three days of the voyage from Seychelles there had been remarkably few seabirds, until the Mauritian-chartered Bleu De Nimes, a cruise ship converted from its former use as a British minesweeper, neared the Chagos Islands.