GORDON Clack is quite correct to remind people that the UK and US governments, the upholders and promoters of democracy, are guilty of ethnic cleansing (Oxford Mail letters, February 11).

In a documentary for BBC television, John Pilger gave a superb account of the idyllic life the Diego Garcia islanders had before the British government forcefully removed and settled them in Mauritius.

The islanders were never consulted, though they were later to learn that the British had negotiated with the Mauritian government to accept these islanders for a paltry sum of money.

What appalls me is that these actions were taken by a Labour government which had secretly leased the island to the Americans for use as a base. The Americans wanted it rid of the islanders and the British complied.

The islanders, now living in the slums of Mauritius, have lost their way of life and most of all — their homeland.

They are even denied the opportunity to visit and pay respect to their departed relatives who are buried there. In contrast to the plight of the Diego Garcia islanders, the Falkland islanders have had millions of pounds invested.

The UK and US governments encourage democracy when it suits them. However, on this occasion they made a mockery of it. Unfortunately the victims were the Diego Garcia islanders, and they lost a paradise.

VIM RODRIGO, Rose Hill, Oxford