By Kevin McCauley
BGR Government Affairs has inked a $25K-a-month contract with Mauritius, the island nation off the coast of Africa, for “fact-finding, strategic counsel, reputation building and tactical planning” as it concerns the dispute over the Chagos Archipelago.
Chagos is the site of America’s Diego Garcia Air Base. That Indian Ocean outpost supported bombing runs over Afghanistan and Iraq.
The U.K. purchased Chagos from former colony Mauritius in 1965. Secret papers made public this month by Britain’s Home Office shows that the U.K. and U.S. forcibility removed about 1,500 people from Chagos to make way for the air base.
More than 28,000 people have signed a petition to the White House, calling for the U.S. to provide compensation for the displaced islanders and their families.
Morris Reid, a former Clinton White House staffer, and Walker Roberts, managing director of the BGR’s London office, work the Mauritius account.
|