The Prospect of Independence

Citizens of the tiny British crown colony of Mauritius, 1,400 miles off the African coast, take their politics seriously. The island's 32 newspapers and one radio station covered the latest parliamentary election campaign in twelve languages from English to Urdu. Interest ran so high that nearly 90% of the eligible voters cast ballots, and Premier Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam's Independence Party, which campaigned on a platform calling for complete freedom from Britain, won 43 of 70 seats in the legislative assembly.

The prospect of losing the 720-sq.-mi. island with its depressed sugar industry, chronic unemployment and dangerous racial tensions does not disturb Britain. But just when it will actually be rid of Mauritius' problems is uncertain. The main opposition to independence comes from a flamboyant mulatto attorney, Gaetan ("King Creole") Duval, 35, whose Parti Mauricien Social Democrate won the other 27 seats.

Duval speaks for the 213,000 half-caste descendants of former African slaves and a dwindling minority of 10,000 whites, many of them heirs of the old French sugar barons, who lingered on after Britain conquered the island during the Napoleonic wars.

Using Spear Gun. Duval's supporters are prone to back up their arguments with such local weapons as underwater spear guns, and they are not about to give up the fight just because they took a beating at the polls. Duval argues that when Britain gets into the Common Market, Mauritius will have an outlet for its sugar (which accounts for 97% of its exports), and that as a fellow member of the European Economic Community, France will throw open its doors to French-speaking Mauritian immigrants.

Sir Seewoosagur, 66, a suave physician of Indian descent, retorts that there is no guarantee Britain will ever get into the Common Market, or that, if it does, France will accept an influx of dark-skinned Mauritians. With the is land's 394,000 Hindus behind him, Sir Seewoosagur seems to have made his point. But the polyglot population also includes 126,000 Indian Moslems and 25,000 Chinese who do not seem overly eager for Hindu rule; there may be more than vocal dissent if Sir Seewoosagur's majority tries to carry out the party plank of independence.

Apparently unconvinced that the rioting that marked the campaign was really over, shopkeepers cautiously kept their stores barricaded last week, days after the election. Despite the assurances of Governor Sir John Shaw Rennie that his police can keep order, everyone knows that the nearest British armed forces are at least seven hours away by plane--in Aden, where they already have their hands full.

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