UK cedes Chagos Islands to Mauritius, minus US base

Diego Garcia atol, a UK island with US military base in the Indian Ocean

(Image credit: USGS / NASA Landsat data / Orbital Horizon Gallo Images / Gallo Images / Getty Images)

What happened

Britain said Thursday it would cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, an archipelago of more than 60 small islands in the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius but retain control of Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands and home to a strategically important U.S.-U.K. military base, for "an initial period" of 99 years. The Chagos Islands lie 1,250 miles northeast of Mauritius, toward India. Mauritius has long argued it was forced to give up the cluster of islands in 1965 in return for its own independence from Britain in 1968.

Who said what

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth welcomed the "historic political agreement." They said in a joint statement that the deal, negotiated over two years, reflected their commitments to "the rule of law" and the "long-term, secure and effective operation of the existing base on Diego Garcia." Jugnauth said in a televised speech that "56 years after our independence, the decolonization is finally complete."

Britain had faced "rising diplomatic isolation" over its claim to what it called the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) and others "called its 'last colony in Africa,'" the BBC said. The Chagos Islands were "one of the very last pieces" of Britain's "global empire," and if it relinquished them "reluctantly," it also did so "peacefully and legally."

What next?

Under the agreement, which must still be signed off in a treaty, Britain will pay Mauritius rent, infrastructure investments and a "resettlement" fund for the descendants of the 1,500 Chagossians kicked off the islands in the 1970s to make way for the Diego Garcia base.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.