United States of America

UK Gives Sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius

Published OCT 3 2024

Story

Above: US military planes pictured on the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), or Chagos Islands, situated in the Indian Ocean, halfway between Africa and Indonesia. Image credit: Pictures From History/Universal Images Group/Contributor via Getty Images

The Facts

The UK announced on Thursday that it will hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius following years of negotiations.
BBC News
The UK had controlled the territory since 1814 and detached the islands from Mauritius to create the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) in 1965 — three years before Mauritius was granted independence from British colonial rule.
Al Jazeera
This followed a UK-US agreement to build a military base on the largest island of Diego Garcia — which the UK continues to lease to the US. Once the BIOT was created, UK officials spent the next eight years expelling the local population until none remained.
Human Rights Watch
While both the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the UN General Assembly had sided with Mauritius in their legal claim over the islands, these decisions had previously been rejected by the UK.
Guardian
United Nations
ICJ
A joint statement from the governments of the UK and Mauritius described the deal as a "historic political agreement." The US and the UK will maintain their operations within the Diego Garcia military base on a minimum 99-year lease, while other islands will begin resettlement programs.
GOV.UK
GOV.UK
The statement added that while the political agreement is subject to the finalization of a treaty between both countries, both sides have committed to complete this process as quickly as possible.
GOV.UK

Sources Split

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RIGHT

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ESTAB

The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

While implemented by the new, left-wing government of Sir Keir Starmer, this has been on the agenda for successive administrations and comes from a shared desire to bring the UK fully under international law while maintaining its strategic interests in the region.

BBC News

Establishment-critical narrative

As is typical of woke progressives, the Labour government has handed over control of the strategically important islands to an ally of China with little regard for what this really means for Britain's long-term interests.