The United Kingdom signed an agreement today handing sovereignty over the contested and strategically located Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The move, the British government said, ensures the future of a US-UK military base that is vital to British security. Under the agreement, the United Kingdom will pay Mauritius 136 million dollars per year to lease back the base for at least 99 years. The Indian Ocean archipelago is home to a strategically important naval and bomber base on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia.
Speaking to reporters about the deal today, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said, the deal, which involves a lease on the base for 99 years and beyond and is in the UK’s national interest. He said, the base, operated by US forces, is crucial for British counter-terrorism and intelligence and is right at the foundation of country’s safety and security at home.
The Chagos Islands, officially known as the British Indian Ocean Territory, are located in the Indian Ocean about 9,332 km south-east of the UK. The Chagos Archipelago – a group of seven atolls with a population of just over four thousand, was separated from Mauritius in 1965, when Mauritius was still a British colony. Britain purchased the islands for three million pound but Mauritius has argued that it was illegally forced to give them away as part of a deal to gain independence from Britain. In the late 1960s, Britain invited the US to build a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands, removing thousands of people from their homes.