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Archive -Letter to the editor

Letter to the Editor - Political situation in the Indian Ocean calls for ‘careful navigation’ |13 March 2015




Thank you for publishing my letter welcoming Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Seychelles and publishing the three photos I sent you concerning the visit of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1976. I believe that your title “Nostalgy may not be what it used to be” was appropriate and underlined the great changes in Indian politics over recent years concerning the Indian Ocean.

In 1976, India was an active proponent of the politics of ‘Indian Ocean Zone of Peace’ alongside the former Soviet Union – and openly opposed the U.S. base in the Chagos archipelago. Today India is online with the U.S.A. There is no more any criticism or outcry levied about the U.S. base in Diego Garcia. In fact, the U.S.A. would like to see India playing a major naval and military role in the zone - all this change due to the ever-growing and active interest and influence which China is having in this area.

It is interesting to note that most of Prime Minister Modi’s assistance to Seychelles has a quasi military dimension – Dornier aircraft; coast surveillance; radar system; hydrographic survey and the development of an SPDF base on the island of Assumption. There are indeed a lot of rooms for thoughts if we wish to avoid ourselves being caught in the web of Indo-Chinese ambition and rivalry.

There are certainly a lot of cross-currents around and therefore the need for careful navigation if Seychelles’ sovereignty and national interest is not to be impaired.

James R. Mancham

 

 

 

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