Britain cedes disputed islands to Mauritius, securing key US military base

Britain announced on Thursday it would hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a deal it said would secure the future of the Anglo-US military base at Diego Garcia, and which could also open the way for people displaced decades ago to return home.

President Joe Biden welcomed the deal, saying it would ensure the efficient operation of Diego Garcia, a strategically important air base in the Indian Ocean, for the next century.

But British critics said it was a capitulation that played into the hands of China, which has close trade ties with Mauritius. A group representing displaced residents of the Chagos Islands expressed anger at being excluded from negotiations.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the deal resolved the disputed sovereignty of the islands, the last British overseas territory in Africa, while ongoing legal challenges put the long-term future at risk. term of Diego Garcia.

He added that the base, whose strategic importance was demonstrated during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan when it served as a launching pad for long-range bombers, was now guaranteed for at least 99 years.

Today's agreement… will strengthen our role in safeguarding global security, Lammy said in a statement.

Biden echoed that sentiment, saying Diego Garcia plays a critical role in national, regional and global security.

This allows the United States to support operations that demonstrate our shared commitment to regional stability, provide rapid response to crises, and counter some of the most serious security threats we face, he said. he declared.

Great Britain, which has controlled the region since 1814, detached the Chagos Islands from Mauritius in 1965, a former colony which became independent three years later, to create the British Indian Ocean Territory.

In the early 1970s, Britain expelled nearly 2,000 residents to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for an air base on Diego Garcia, the largest island, which it had leased from the United States in 1966.

A non-binding UN General Assembly resolution in 2019 said Britain should relinquish control of the archipelago after wrongly forcing the population to leave.

In 2016, the British Foreign Office extended Diego Garcia's lease until 2036 and said evicted islanders would not be allowed to return home.

The new agreement states that Mauritius would be free to implement a resettlement program on islands other than Diego Garcia, with conditions left to Port Louis.

We were guided by our conviction to complete the decolonization of our republic, declared Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth in a televised speech.

Olivier Bancoult, leader of the Mauritius-based Chagos Refugees Group, said this marked a watershed and official recognition of the injustices suffered by Chagossians.

But UK-based diaspora group Chagossian Voices said it deplored the exclusion of the Chagossian community from the negotiations.

The Chagossians (…) remain powerless and voiceless in the face of the determination of our own future and that of our homeland, he declared in a statement published on Facebook.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who said his government would be defined in part by respect for international law after his Labor Party came to power in July, had made resolving the issue a priority.

However, prominent figures in Britain's Conservative Party, which initially launched the negotiations while in government, have criticized the deal.

Conservative security spokesman Tom Tugendhat said the deal damaged Britain's allies and opened the possibility of China gaining a military foothold in the Indian Ocean.

This is a dangerous capitulation that will hand over our territory to an ally of Beijing, Robert Jenrick, the favorite to be the next Conservative leader, said on X.

Asked about concerns about China, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said: “The provisions of the agreement give us confidence that we will be able to maintain the security of our base.

Miller declined to detail the provisions in question.

David Blagden, associate professor of international security and strategy at Britain's University of Exeter, said the deal was a big victory for Mauritius.

Not only will the United Kingdom pay Port Louis to retake an archipelago over which it had never held sovereignty, but it will now be able to obtain juicy Chinese aid in exchange for complicated use by the United States and the United Kingdom. United of Diego Garcia, he declared on X.

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