Bill Rammell MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office today met with Olivier Bancoult, Chairman of the Chagos Refugees Group and other representatives of the Chagossian communities in Mauritius and Seychelles.

The Minister said:

'Following consultations with the US Authorities, the British Government has agreed to a visit by a fixed number of Chagossians to their relatives graves on Diego Garcia. The visit to these graves would be in addition to their visiting the graves on some of the outer islands of the British Indian Ocean Territory for which permission had already been granted. When we took the difficult but correct decision to stop the repopulation of the British Indian Ocean Territory I nevertheless undertook to seek to allow a visit to Diego Garcia and I am pleased that I have been able to agree this.'

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