The UK has officially signed a landmark agreement to return sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while securing a 99-year lease potentially extendable on the Diego Garcia military base for £101 million annually.
The deal, which faced a dramatic legal challenge in the early hours of Thursday, was temporarily halted by a High Court injunction at 2:25am.
However, the injunction was
discharged just after 12:30pm, allowing the government to proceed.
The total cost of the lease over the full term is expected to reach at least £10 billion.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has defended the agreement, saying it is “in the national interest” and crucial to protecting UK and allied security interests. “The strategic location of Diego Garcia gives us access to vital capabilities,” he said, adding that the deal ensures stability “for 99 years and beyond.”
Under the deal, the UK will relinquish control of the Indian Ocean archipelago and lease back the strategic island of Diego Garcia for 99 years at a reported cost of £101 million per year, totaling £3.4 billion.
The site will remain a joint US-UK military base and has been deemed “vital” to national security by Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
Starmer defended the timing, warning that failure to act could jeopardise Britain’s strategic presence. “We had to act now,” he said, emphasising that renewed legal challenges from Mauritius would leave the UK with “no realistic prospect of success.”
Defence Secretary John Healey echoed those sentiments in a government press release, warning that international legal proceedings particularly through the Law of the Sea Convention tribunal threatened to undermine the base’s operational status. Without the agreement, Healey said, provisional measures could have restricted the UK’s military ability to patrol surrounding waters.
The UK government emphasised that the agreement includes “robust provisions” to prevent any foreign influence on the base. A 24-nautical-mile buffer zone has been established where no infrastructure can be developed without UK consent. In addition, foreign security forces will be banned from the outer islands, with joint decision-making mechanisms to ensure Diego Garcia’s operations are not disrupted.
But while Westminster focuses on strategic and diplomatic gains, the deal has reignited painful memories for Chagossians, many of whom were forcibly removed from their homeland in the 1960s to make way for the base.
“I’m beyond horrified and angry,” one campaigner said, while another added, “We are not giving up.”
Activists argue that the deal does not address their right to return to Diego Garcia, which remains off-limits for resettlement.
The Chagos Islands were detached from Mauritius in 1965, when the latter was still a British colony. Britain paid £3 million for the territory and later evicted more than 1,000 islanders. The agreement now signed may resolve a long-standing diplomatic dispute, but for the Chagossian community, the sense of injustice lingers.
As the UK moves to secure its strategic footprint in the Indo-Pacific, critics say the true cost of the deal lies not just in billions but in unresolved colonial wounds.
Erizia Rubyjeana
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