The decision to transfer sovereignty of the remote Chagos Islands, formerly known as the British Indian Ocean Territory, to Mauritius today following two years of tense negotiations has prompted a backlash.
In a joint-statement with the PM of Mauritius, Keir Starmer announced that all of the archipelago’s islands will be formally handed over, with the exception of the Diego Garcia atoll, which hosts numerous ships, aircraft, and personnel of the Royal Navy and the American military.
For at least the next 99 years, Britain has been granted control over this tiny but vital sliver of sand and cement, preserving the navy’s deep-water staging point in an increasingly contested Indian Ocean.
Opposition to British jurisdiction over the isles has festered for decades since Mauritian independence in 1965. Following that move, an estimated 1500 Chagossians were expelled by the British government from the territory to make room for the strategic military base, igniting a movement for the island’s “decolonisation” and the return of the displaced residents.
