In a candid interview, the Mauritian High Commissioner to the UK explains his country's success in riding the global economic storm and decries the story of Britain's occupation and the forceful evictions of Mauritians of Chagossian descent from Mauritian territory.

Abhimanu Mahendra Kundasamy is passionate about Africa. Currently the High Commissioner to the United Kingdom, Mahen Kundasamy has held the position of High Commissioner to no less than ten Southern African countries, having been accredited to the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) secretariats as well as the UN regional office in Nairobi.

ReConnect Africa spoke to this charismatic ambassador to find out more about his role and to assess the part Mauritius is playing in Africa's growth and development.

ReConnect Africa (RCA): What do you consider to be the key challenges of your role as the representative of Mauritius to the United Kingdom?

Mahen Kundasamy (MK): My key challenge at the moment centres on a dispute that we have with the UK Government concerning two issues: resolving the issue of sovereignty; and the resettlement of the islands of the Chagos archipelago.

These issues have arisen due to the unilateral intention of the UK Foreign Office to impose a Marine Protection Area (MPA) around the Chagos archipelago without addressing the issue of sovereignty and resettlement. The issue of sovereignty is clear because not only do we have the two key UN resolutions -1514 and 2066 – to support our sovereignty, but there is also the fact that the majority of the UN membership recognises our title to these islands.

Indeed under 1514 Paragraph 5 clearly states that the transfer of powers to the peoples of those territories which have not yet attained independence should be affected "without any conditions or reservations".

Paragraph 6 of the same Resolution very explicitly lays down that "any attempt aimed at partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country is incompatible with the purposes and principles of the Charter of United Nations."

Declaration 1514 is not only a resolution about the granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples but it is an affirmation of fundamental rights and a pillar in the UN Charter. And, on this, at no time has the UK as a Permanent member of the Security Council given their views on what they think of this key principle of the UN Charter.

As has been pointed out by the former retired British High Commissioner to Mauritius David Snoxell in a recent interview and I quote:

"There are two important acts from the 19th century that are relevant here – the 1865 Colonial Laws Validity Act and the 1895 Colonial Boundaries Act. These effectively gave the British government the power to administer its colonies, to set the boundaries, and divide them up as it saw fit. All of this comes before the development of international law in the twentieth century. While the British government has been one of the great drafters of international law – maritime law, human rights law, law of armed conflict and so on – it tends to be selective about the international law that it applies to itself. And Chagos is a case in point."

Based on the UN resolutions, the African Union has its own position and has issued a resolution on this issue. In this, they urged the UK Government "to immediately enter into direct and constructive dialogue with Mauritius so as to enable the early return of the sovereignty of Mauritius." We are currently exchanging notes with various capitals in Africa and many African countries are monitoring this situation closely.

The second part of this sad story is the forcible eviction of some 2,000 islanders from these islands. In fact, the Washington Post in an Editorial in September 1975 described these forcible evictions as "an act of mass kidnapping".

Whilst they were being evicted, which was inhuman and traumatic to the men, women and children, they watched their livestock and pets being massacred as they were being forced into the ships to cleanse the area.

Indeed, in records we have been made aware of, a senior official of the UK Foreign Office in 1966 noted that "We must surely be very tough about this. The object of the exercise is to get some rocks will remain ours. There will be no indigenous population except seagulls." The mindset of this group was such that a senior diplomat wrote, "Unfortunately along with the birds go some few Tarzans or Man Fridays whose origins are obscure and who are hopefully being wished on to Mauritius."

We have been trying to convince the UK Foreign Office that the only thing they will achieve by the unilateral imposition of an MPA around the Chagos archipelago is an immoral, inhuman and illegal act to prevent people from enjoying a fundamental human right as well as to continue the occupation of a land which, in respect to the UN resolutions and international law, is not theirs.

Indeed senior judges in their ruling such as Mr Justice Ousely in 2003 and Lord Justice Sedley in 2007 were both explicit about this. In fact, all the judgements in the courts have said that what happened to the Chagossians was disgraceful—the terms used included "abuse of power", "deplorable", "repugnant" and "shameful".

The way forward is now clear and it is high time that the British government together with Mauritius, the United States and Chagossian leaders sort out this relic of the Cold War and indeed one of the worst violations of human rights perpetrated by the UK in the 20th century.

In a recent interview on the BBC, the Foreign Secretary David Milliband said, and I quote: "that within the Foreign Office there is a danger of faded glory and we have worked very hard not to fall into this trap. We must not behave like our predecessors 50 or 100 years ago."

RCA: How has Mauritius been able to not only survive the recent global economic downturn, but also see economic growth?

MK: The process of Mauritius addressing the global recession started in 2005 when Prime Minister Navinchandra Ramgoolam came back to power. He immediately recognised the economic clouds facing the Mauritian economy and realised that it was vital for him and his team to take bold and courageous decisions to address these difficulties.

The island's key challenges at that time were the reduction in the price of sugar by 36% by the European Union and, at the same time, the total removal of a multi-fibre agreement for Mauritian textile exports to the EU. Along with the rising cost of food and oil, the island was hit hard with what we call this triple shock effect.

Mauritius therefore embarked upon a long list of simultaneous reforms. Reform was based on the notion of further opening up the economy in order to attract foreign direct investment. This also included the reform of the tax system, the development of new poles of economic sectors, and the consolidation and rationalisation of the existing economic sectors.

Although we didn't know there would be a global crisis of such magnitude then, these steps prepared us to face the economic meltdown that ensued around the world, such that even during the worst of the recession, our economy grew by 3%.

RCA: How would you assess the key challenges within Mauritius if this growth and development is to be sustained?

MK:What is important is that we continue to further diversity our economic base. One of the things that are vital to sustain this is the speed of economic integration in Africa.

As a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the pace of economic integration is vitally important for our future.

My hope is that, in twenty years, we will have a comprehensive workable customs union right across sub-Saharan Africa which will offer a market size of well over 500 million people.

RCA: With increasing South-South co-operation between the emerging BRIC economies and Africa, how do you think Mauritius can position itself?

MK:I think we are already there, to the extent that both India and China see Mauritius as a gateway to Africa. Indeed, this is a good thing for us to look not just north to Europe, but also east and west. These are emerging economies which will have a huge impact on the global economy in the future. In terms of consumption, it will not only be the West, but countries in South America with large economies, like Brazil, as well as India, China and Indonesia.

South-South cooperation plays a vital part for Africa in diversifying its future markets for economic growth.

RCA: In common with other island states, Mauritius has a small population – 1.2 million. What disadvantages does this pose, given the country's aspiration to 'punch above its weight'?.

MK: In the early 1960's, two Nobel Prize winners studied Mauritius and concluded that Mauritius was doomed to failure because of its rising population and mono-crop economy of sugar.

We have not only proved them wrong but also managed to show resilience, determination and the capacity to adapt and work hard to move the country forward. Today Mauritius is unrecognisable from the 1960's and our size is not, and will never be, an impediment tothe way that Mauritians think. Even though we are a small island, we think global.

We will always be exposed to the world and, in the end, it is the people who have made and who will continue to make it a success.