Sir Keir Starmer has announced the UK is giving up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Britain, which has controlled the region since 1814, detached the Chagos islands in 1965 from Mauritius – a former colony that became independent three years later – to create the British Indian Ocean Territory.
The announcement, made in a joint statement by the British and Mauritian Prime Ministers on Thursday, ends decades of often tense negotiations between the two countries over the islands.
The land 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 islands in the Indian Ocean
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The base, used between the UK and US, will remain on Diego Garcia, is 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.
Now, the UK government said it would recognise the sovereignty of Mauritius over the Chagos Islands under a new agreement, which also secures the rights of Britain to operate a military base at Diego Garcia for at least the next 99 years.
A joint statement from Sir Keir Starmer and Mauritius PM Pravind Jugnauth said: “Following two years of negotiation, this is a seminal moment in our relationship and a demonstration of our enduring commitment to the peaceful resolution of disputes and the rule of law.”
The Foreign Office said the status of the base will be undisputed and legally secure following a political agreement between the two countries. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “Today’s agreement secures this vital military base for the future.”
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Fuel tanks at the edge of a military airstrip on Diego Garcia, largest island in the Chagos
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Speaking last year, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson stressed the relationship between Britain and the US, with it used as a base during the first and second Gulf wars, as well as the allied invasion of Afghanistan.
The former Conservative Party leader said: “The Americans don’t give us crucial nuclear secrets just because they love little old England. They don’t share intelligence because they adore our quaint accents. We have a great and indispensable relationship because we have important things to offer, including Diego Garcia.
“Who knows what happens if we give up sovereignty. The Mauritians might cut out the middleman, and do a deal with the US (and never mind the Chagossians). But then a future Mauritian government might also close the base or allow the Chinese, at the right price, to build their own runways on the same archipelago.”
Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick was scathing about the British Indian Ocean Territory deal. He said: ” It’s taken three months for (Sir Keir) Starmer to surrender Britain’s strategic interests…This is a dangerous capitulation that will hand our territory to an ally of Beijing.”
Mauritius PM Pravind Jugnauth
Getty
Britain, which has controlled the region since 1814, detached the Chagos Islands in 1965 from Mauritius, a former colony that became independent three years later – to create the British Indian Ocean Territory.
In the early 1970s, it evicted almost 2,000 residents to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for an airbase on the largest island, Diego Garcia, which it had leased to the United States in 1966.
The World Court said in 2019 that Britain should give up control of the islands and said it had wrongfully forced the population to leave in the 1970s to make way for a US air base.
Britain has 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. However, until very recently, the UK insisted that Mauritius itself had no legitimate claim to the islands.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary David LammyReuters
A source told GB News “There has been no scrutiny whatsoever.”
Tory leadership hopeful James Cleverly, a former foreign secretary, criticised the decision. He said: “Weak, weak, weak! Labour lied to get into office. Said they’d be whiter than white, said they wouldn’t put up taxes, said they’d stand up to the EU, said that they be patriotic. All lies!”
Fellow Tory leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat said: “This is a shameful retreat undermining our security and leaving our allies exposed.”
He said the Foreign Office had “negotiated against Britain’s interest” and it was “disgraceful that these negotiations started under our watch”.
Tugendhat added: “Lord Cameron rightly blocked them only to see it back under David Lammy’s complete failure of leadership.”