Letter to the Editor - UK government still interested that Seychelles gets its ‘democratic situation’ right |16 September 2016

It is early Thursday morning here at Glacis-sur-Mer and with Silhouette and North Islands standing in clear relief against the background of a rising sun – I have the pleasure to have in hand a copy of both Seychelles NATION and TODAY In Seychelles, both papers which have extensively followed the recent National Assembly election.

Perhaps the most prominent article at this time is the one entitled, ‘Democracy in Seychelles and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development’, written by H.E. Caron Röhsler, British High Commissioner to Seychelles, on the occasion of today’s International Day of Democracy.

Coming as it does just after the National Assembly election, the article is most pertinent and certainly reflects the fact that despite her own internal political problems and difficulties, the UK Government is still interested that we, in Seychelles, get our ‘democratic situation’ right.

I do share the view of the High Commissioner that a link between the Seychelles and the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association would be helpful when confronting internal problems – but how helpful?

May I be allowed to refer to my book, ‘Paradise Raped’, published by Methuen of London in 1983 – page 203-204 –

“…..Throughout our move towards independence, I had worked hard to promote a UK-Seychelles Parliamentary Association which would help group together members of the British Parliament who had visited the islands and who were together keen in following developments there. One of the MPs was Mr Carol Mather, Conservative MP for Esher, who had visited Mahé just a few weeks before. While the British Government was busy with the Jubilee euphoria, on 11 June, Mather made the following points in the letter columns of ‘The Times’:
‘Those who know and love the Seychelles will be deeply saddened by the events of the past few days which culminated in a coup d’état and the overthrow of the one-year-old constitution.
The only crime of which the deposed President was guilty in the eyes of the authors of the coup was to be unashamedly pro-British and pro-West. But this was unforgivable and had to be changed even at the point of a gun.
There is no doubt that the coup was inspired from outside by Marxist interest, through the agency of Tanzania, with whom Mr Albert René’s party had close contacts. The coup would certainly have had no popular support in Seychelles as Mr J.G. Rassool, High Commissioner in London, makes clear in his recent letter to ‘The Times’.
There are, of course, strategic implications to these events which would very much please Moscow. The Seychelles group of islands lies adjacent to the West’s oil sea route to the Gulf.
But those factors apart, it is above all a sad thing for the Seychellois people who were loyal and intensely patriotic towards Britain. The Seychellois accepted independence reluctantly, believing they were freer under British protection than any neighbouring African states, where freedom means dictatorship. How ironic that they should be the ones who now suffer…..”

These words from Hon. Mather were pertinent words indeed but within the euphoria of the Jubilee celebrations, how many in Britain were there who would bother to follow the points? His realistic appraisal was comforting to me but it was still no substitute for real action that had become necessary.

It was clear at that time the Government in UK was more concerned with geo-political consideration than the democratic rights of the people of Seychelles.

James R. Mancham