Use of Diego Garcia by United States report published
20 Jun 2014 11:49 AM
The UK should signal
more clearly to the US that it should not use Diego Garcia for rendition
without prior permission, says the Foreign Affairs
Committee.
In a report published yesterday,
the Foreign Affairs Committee says that the text of the Agreement with the US
permitting use of Diego Garcia for defence purposes should be revised. It
should specify that any extraordinary use of the US base or facilities, such as
combat operations or any other politically sensitive activity, requires prior
approval from the UK Government, and it should state explicitly that the
British Indian Ocean Territory should not be used for rendition unless
authority has first been granted by the UK Government, on a case by case
basis.
Public confidence in the
UK’s ability to exercise control over its sovereign territory was dented
in 2008 when it emerged that information supplied by the US on its rendition
programme since 2001 had been inaccurate. The UK was not informed about two
flights which had refuelled at Diego Garcia, carrying detainees. Existing
arrangements for the US to seek permission for rendition or other politically
sensitive activities appear to be “entirely informal”, and the
Committee recommends that they should now be built into the text of the formal
Agreement between the US and UK on the use of Diego Garcia, which is due to be
extended in 2016.
Chair's
comments
Sir Richard Ottaway, Chairman of
the Committee, said:
"This is about building
confidence. The Government relied on US assurances on its use of Diego Garcia,
and in 2008 these proved to be inaccurate. That severely damaged
credibility.
The British public is entitled
to know that the UK is able to exercise control over its sovereign territory
and what happens there. The Agreement between the UK and the US on use of Diego
Garcia is coming up for renewal, and we think the Government should take the
opportunity to formalise the existing informal arrangements by which the US
seeks permission for rendition or other politically sensitive operations in
Diego Garcia: it should build them into the text of the
Agreement.
We believe that would
concentrate minds and prevent a recurrence of the unhappy events of
2008."