UK sovereign base
The UK Sovereign Base Areas are those British military base areas located in countries formerly ruled by the United Kingdom which were retained by it and not handed over when those countries attained independence.
Cyprus
Akrotiri and Dhekelia are UK Sovereign Base Areas (SBAs) in Cyprus, a former British Crown Colony. A British garrison force is stationed there to defend them, and they contain a British listening post, and the only fully fledged RAF station in the Mediterranean (since Gibraltar does not have any aircraft permanently based there), RAF Akrotiri. In addition to the garrison, the UK makes a contribution to the United Nations force in Cyprus. In total, some 3,500 British personnel are based in Cyprus.
There is certain disorientation when entering the military parts of a sovereign base area (unlike Guantanamo Bay, there are roads running through the territory and even through the military camps themselves, which are open to traffic from Cyprus). In particular, the road names in the military camps are all very English, like "Worcester Road". Civilian laws are enacted by the British civilian authorities, but are patterned on those of the Republic of Cyprus. Many Cypriots work in the SBAs, mainly for the British authorities or as farmers, or for a few local businesses. But only those Cypriots with a local connection are permitted to live there, such as those who live in Akrotiri village or in the outskirts of villages neighbouring the bases. Also the villages of Xylotimbou and Ormidhia, in the Republic of Cyprus, are enclaves surrounded by Dhekelia SBA.
The Sovereign Bases in Cyprus are an overseas territory, but instead of having a Governor, like other such territories, it has an Administrator, who, while appointed by the Queen, is responsible to the Ministry of Defence, not to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Ireland
After the creation of the Irish Free State (now the Republic of Ireland) in 1922, the UK retained two ports in Queenstown (now Cobh) and Berehaven in County Cork, as well as a base at Lough Swilly in County Donegal. Along with the partition of Ireland, the inclusion of British control of these ports in the Anglo-Irish Treaty was a factor in the Irish Civil War between pro- and anti-Treaty forces. The ports were eventually handed over to the successor of the Irish Free State, Éire, in 1938. Some in Britain considered this a short-sighted decision, since following the outbreak of World War II, the British supply routes across the Atlantic Ocean were initially more difficult to protect without these bases, because the convoy escort refuelling facilities which Berehaven and Queenstown would have provided were 370 kilometres (200 miles) further out into the Atlantic than those which were available in Northern Ireland and England. This became less important after the Allies established bases in Iceland following the British occupation in 1940, moreover the ports were not invested or kept to the standard required by the British Admiralty and would not have been ready for war. From an Irish point of view, the handover of the "treaty ports" (as they were termed) before the war was vital to Ireland's neutrality.
External links
- Sovereign Base Areas Administration web-pages (http://www.sba.mod.uk/)
- On British Anti-submarine Defence Plans in Ireland (http://home.iprimus.com.au/waldingr/ireland.htm)
See also