The UK has announced it’s plans to give power of a remote but strategically important cluster of islands in the Indian Ocean after more than half a century to Mauritius.
The deal after years of negotiations will finally see the UK hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a historic move.
The announcement, made in a joint statement on Thursday, by the British and Mauritian Prime Ministers has ended decades of grumpy negotiations between the two countries over the islands.
This includes the tropical atoll of Diego Garcia, used by the US government as a military base for its navy ships and long-range bomber aircraft.
The US-UK base will remain on Diego Garcia – a key factor enabling the deal to go forward at a time of growing geopolitical rivalries in the region between Western countries, India, and China.
The deal is still subject to finalisation of a treaty but both sides have vowed to complete this as quickly as possible.
“Under the terms of this treaty the United Kingdom will agree that Mauritius is sovereign over the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia,” the statement from UK PM Keir Starmer and Mauritius PM Pravind Jugnauth read.
“At the same time, both our countries are committed to the need…to ensure the long-term, secure and effective operation of the existing base on Diego Garcia which plays a vital role in regional and global security.”
The treaty will also “address wrongs of the past and demonstrate the commitment of both parties to support the welfare of Chagossians”, the statement read.
Mauritius will now be able to bring in a programme of resettlement on the Chagos Islands – excepting the military base island of Diego Garcia.
The government of Mauritius has long argued that it was illegally forced to give the Chagos Islands away in return for its own independence from the UK in 1968.
At the time, the British government had already negotiated a secret deal with the US, agreeing to lease it the largest atoll, Diego Garcia, for use as a military base.
Britain later apologised for forcibly removing more than 1,000 islanders from the entire archipelago and promised to hand the islands to Mauritius when they were no longer needed for strategic purposes.
But until very recently, the UK insisted that Mauritius itself had no legitimate claim to the islands.
Source: BBC