Prime Minister Keir Starmer is expected to sign a landmark agreement on Thursday officially transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
Under the terms of the deal Mauritius would gain sovereignty of the islands from the UK, but allow the US and UK to continue operating a strategically important military base on one of the islands for an initial period of 99 years in exchange for a multi-billion pound payment.
Under the terms of the deal, first reported by The Telegraph, the prime minister will attend a virtual signing ceremony with representatives from the Mauritian government on Thursday.
The deal previously appeared to have stalled after a change in government in both Mauritius and the US where aides to Donald Trump were given time to examine the plan.
The plan to hand over control of the Chagos Islands, officially known as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), was announced last October following negotiations with then-Mauritian leader Pravind Jugnauth.
Talks had previously stalled due to changes in leadership in both Mauritius and the United States.
Former Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth initiated the deal, but his successor, Navin Ramgoolam, had expressed hesitation.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was one of a chorus of high-profile Republicans who said the deal posed a “serious threat” to US national security, due to Mauritius relationship with China.
Despite those concerns, Donald Trump signalled support for the arrangement last month.
A spokesperson for the UK Foreign Office stated, “We are working to sign a deal which will safeguard the joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia, which is vital to our national security.”
The deal also provides invitations for Chagossian community engagement. On Thursday morning, six representatives from three Chagossian groups are expected to meet Minister of Europe, North America and overseas territories, Stephen Doughty to discuss sovereignty of the territory.
“The meeting will be an opportunity to discuss the FCDO’s Chagossian projects and the new Chagossian contact group,” an email sent to the representatives said, without giving further details.
Under the terms of the deal, Britain is expected to give up sovereignty of the island territory to Mauritius, and lease back a crucial military base on the archipelago for 99 years.
The government is yet to spell out the estimated cost of payments the British taxpayer will make under the deal, but it is expected to run into the billions.
The Chagos Islands were controversially separated from Mauritius in 1965 while the latter was still under British colonial rule.
The UK paid £3 million for the territory, but Mauritius has long contended the islands were unjustly taken as a condition for independence in 1968.
The UK has come under increasing international pressure to hand over control of the archipelago after various United Nations bodies sided with Mauritian sovereignty claims in recent years.
The last Conservative government opened negotiations over the legal status in late 2022, but has since criticised the Labour government for being willing to hand over the islands.
Reform UK has been strongly critical too.
Labour has argued that the best way to guarantee the future of the military base was to do a deal with Mauritius and that that was in the interests of UK national security too, given the importance of the base.
Following the signing ceremony, MPs will be updated on the terms of the deal in the House of Commons, which could include scope for a 40-year extension to the lease of the military base, the Telegraph said.
The government will provide details of the deal in the House of Commons. Defence Secretary John Healey recently defended the move, calling the Diego Garcia base “essential to our security” and reaffirming its central role in UK-US defence cooperation.
“We’ve had to act, as the previous government started to do, to deal with that jeopardy, we’re completing those arrangements and we’ll report to the House when we can,” he added.
Erizia Rubyjeana
Follow us on:
