Walter Finch
ONE of Gibraltar’s leading lawyers has slammed the Rock’s Chief Minister for his ‘obnoxious’ stance over the UK’s decision to cede sovereign British territory to another country.
Distinguished legal practitioner Charles Gomez was barely able to contain his outrage after Fabian Picardo claimed the UK deal to give away the Chagos Islands to Mauritius ‘had no read across to Gibraltar’.
“Yes there’s read across!” Gomez said in a blistering broadside in conversation with the Olive Press during which he challenged Picardo to debate ‘face to face’.
“It’s the transfer of British sovereignty without the consent of the people – then paying Mauritius £100m a year on top. It’s giving away something for free and then paying the recipient to take it.
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“There’s no way you can convince anyone in Gibraltar that the UK selling out the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands without consulting the Chagossians is good for us,” he thundered.
“I think Picardo’s comments are obnoxious to Gibraltar,” said Gomez, who is an honorary professor specialising in lecturing and writing on the impact of the Chagos situation on British Overseas Territories – including Gibraltar.
In response, Gibraltar’s Chief Minister told the Olive Press that ‘Charles Gomez does not know what he is talking about’, adding he is ‘blind with hatred of the government and me.’
The explosive exchange comes two weeks after the British government finalised the agreement to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius last week.
The agreement will see the UK pay £3.4 billion to lease the strategically important US-UK military base on Diego Garcia over the space of 99 years.
The deal has caused considerable disquiet in Gibraltar – and barely disguised glee among the nationalists in Spain, who view it as undermining the inviolability of British sovereignty over the Rock.
Gomez called it ‘one of the most disgraceful – if not the most disgraceful – foreign affairs situation of the UK in the last 50 years.’
He added that Picardo, along with the UK ministers involved in the decision, were responsible for covering it up.
“Mauritius went and signed a deal with Russia the day after the signing ceremony,” Gomez continued. “They didn’t even wait 24 hours, such is their disdain for the UK.”
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Mauritius and Russia agreed to strengthen their bilateral relationship during a meeting in Port Louis, the Mauritian capital, which focused on cooperation in fishing and marine research.
The development has concerned observers in the UK, who worry that the close relationship between the two countries could complicate the security of the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.
Yet Picardo called it ‘the right decision’ when speaking in Gibraltar’s parliament last week, lauding it for ‘protecting national security while respecting international law.’
He added: “The read across to Gibraltar is positive and is particularly relevant in the defence of British
sovereignty.
“I am very clear that there is no aspect of this decision which has any negative read across to Gibraltar.
In fact, quite the opposite is true.”
The opinion is not shared by a large number of Chagossians, the people native to the islands who were forcibly removed in the late 1960s by the British government to make way for the military base.
Mauritius never administered the Chagos Islands before their forced removal, and many exiled islanders recall threats and discrimination when resettled in Mauritius.
They now oppose the handover of the islands to Mauritius, arguing they were not consulted and fear worse treatment under Mauritian rule.
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They associate Britain, despite its colonial abuses, with stronger legal protections and welfare support, and have long campaigned for resettlement under British sovereignty rather than return to a government they distrust.
Understandably, they have been outraged by Keir Starmer’s decision, and it has set an example that many fear could be repeated in Gibraltar.
“The Chief Minister talks about reading across, well the only that you can read across is that British sovereign territory is transferable without consultation of the inhabitants of that territory,” Gomez continued to GBC.
“So how does anyone not read that it’s a diminution in our position of major proportions?”
In response to Olive Press questions, Gibraltar’s Chief Minister dismissed Gomez’s challenge as ‘spouting nonsense.’
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“I don’t think he has read the decision of the ICJ and the evidence of the Chagossians – he can not have said these things if he had read the slightest part of any of the law on this case.
Picardo pointed out that there was ‘an exercise of self determination involving the people of Mauritius and the Chagossians living in Mauritius.’
He added that ‘in that part of the analysis of the Advisory Opinion lies the best support that there has ever been in jurisprudence to show Spain that her claim to the isthmus [separating Spain and Gibraltar] and the waters [around Gibraltar] is still born.
“Charles Gomez seems to be too blind with hatred of the government and me because of the McGrail case to have sufficient objectivity to realise how wrong he is and how he is playing into Spanish hands by making misconceived arguments that he is making,” the Chief Minister concluded.
