{{Short description|Chagossian activist}} {{Infobox person |name = Louis Olivier Bancoult |image = Louis Olivier Bancoult (10427713846).jpg |birth_date = 15 February 1964 |birth_place = [[Peros Banhos]], [[Chagos Archipelago]], [[Mauritius]] }} '''Louis Olivier Bancoult''' (born 1964) is a [[Chagossian]] activist for the [[right of return]] and the leader of the Chagos Refugee Group (CRG).<ref>{{cite news|date=2006-05-11 |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/4760879.stm|title=Court victory for Chagos families |work=[[BBC News]]}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Home CRG – Chagos Refugees Group|url=http://thechagosrefugeesgroup.com/home-crg/|access-date=2021-07-11|language=en}}</ref>
==Biography== He was born in 1964 on the island of [[Peros Banhos]] in the [[Chagos Archipelago]], from where he was [[Expulsion of the Chagossians|forcibly removed]] at the age of four and transported to [[Mauritius]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2000/jul/13/guardianweekly.guardianweekly1|title=Island strife|last=Mann|first=Natasha|date=2000-07-13|website=The Guardian|language=en|access-date=2018-06-21}}</ref> In response, his mother Rita Élysée Bancoult, together with activists [[Charlesia Alexis]] and [[Aurélie Marie-Lisette Talate|Lisette Talate]], founded the CRG<ref name=":0" /> in 1982.<ref name="Marry Kooy 2011, p.153">Sandra Evers et Marry Kooy, Eviction from the Chagos Islands: Displacement and Struggle for Identity Against Two World Powers, vol. Volume 1 : African History, Brill, 2011, 293 p. ({{ISBN|9004202609}}), p.153</ref>
Bancoult is an electrician and an advocate for the juridical right of the Chagossians to return from Mauritius to their original homeland.<ref>[[Tages-Anzeiger]]: Zurück ins Paradies, Christian Schmidt, 23 January 2015, page 8</ref> He has been involved in [[R v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, ex parte Bancoult (No 2)|several high profile legal actions]] concerning the exile of the Chagos Islanders. He was elected multiple times as president of the Chagossian Welfare Fund, responsible for distributing up to 7 million [[Mauritian rupee|rupee]]s a year in aid from the Mauritian government.<ref name=Grylls2025>{{cite news |last=Grylls |first=George |date=2025-02-22 |title=Abandoned Chagos exiles head for new life in Britain |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/article/abandoned-chagos-exiles-head-for-new-life-in-britain-fp85wqcl8 |work=[[The Times]] |location=Port Louis |access-date=2025-07-05}}</ref>
He was one of five islanders who, on 13 February 2022, stepped on to the beach of [[Peros Banhos]], one of the larger atolls making up the occupied Chagos Islands, due to [[Mauritius]] securing legal victories with the [[United Nations General Assembly]] and the [[International Court of Justice]].<ref name=BBC2022>{{Cite news |date=2022-02-12 |title=Chagos islanders in emotional, historic trip home |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-60349040 |access-date=2023-11-10}}</ref>
In 2023, he was nominated for the [[Nobel Peace Prize]], along with [[Liseby Elysé]], a Chagossian woman who testified on behalf of Mauritius before the International Court of Justice in the Chagos case against the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Edouard |first=Olivia |date=2023-02-09 |title=Le Groupe réfugiés Chagos, Olivier Bancoult et Liseby Élysé candidats au Prix Nobel de la Paix |url=https://lexpress.mu/node/418762 |website=L'Express Maurice}}</ref>
Following the October 2024 joint statement between Mauritius and the United Kingdom regarding Britain's cession of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, Bancoult met with Prime Minister [[Pravind Jugnauth]] to discuss resettlement in the Chagos Islands.<ref name=MauritiusGov2025>{{cite web |date=2024-10-03 |title=PM meets Mr Bancoult following historic political agreement between Mauritius and UK on the exercise of sovereignty over Chagos Archipelago |url=https://govmu.org/EN/Pages/NewsDetails.aspx?n=PM-meets-Mr-Bancoult-following-historic-political-agreement-between-Mauritius-and-UK-on-the-exercise-of-sovere.aspx |website=Republic of Mauritius - News |access-date=2025-07-05}}</ref>
==See also==
* [[Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute]] * [[Expulsion of the Chagossians]] ==References== {{reflist}}
== External links ==
* [http://thechagosrefugeesgroup.com/home-crg/ thechagosrefugeesgroup.com]
* [[R (on the application of Bancoult (No 2)) v Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs]] {{Chagos Islands dispute}} [[Category:1964 births]] [[Category:Chagossian people]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Mauritian activists]] [[Category:Chagos Archipelago sovereignty dispute]] [[Category:People exiled to Mauritius]] [[Category:Expatriates in Mauritius]] {{DEFAULTSORT:Bancoult, Louis Olivier}}