(AFP) – US President Donald Trump signaled to Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Thursday that he is willing to back the British deal to hand back the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Britain struck an agreement with Mauritius late last year to return the archipelago to its former colony and pay it to lease a key UK-US military base on Diego Garcia island.
The British government has said that Trump’s administration would have the final say on the agreement, and the deal would effectively be ditched without its approval. “We’re going to have some discussions about that very soon, and I have a feeling it’s going to work out very well,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office as he sat beside Starmer. “They’re talking about a very long-term, powerful lease, a very strong lease, about 140 years actually.”
That’s a long time, and I think we’ll be inclined to go along with your country. Britain kept control of the Chagos Islands after Mauritius gained independence in the 1960s. The base is leased to the United States and has become one of its most strategic military facilities in the Asia-Pacific. Washington has used it as a hub for long-range bombers and ships, notably during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Britain evicted thousands of Chagos islanders who have since mounted a series of legal claims for compensation in British courts. In 2019, the International Court of Justice recommended that Britain hand the archipelago to Mauritius after decades of legal battles. Starmer says the ruling has put Britain’s ownership of the Chagos in doubt, and only a deal with Mauritius can guarantee that the base remains functional.
The deal, which Mauritius has since renegotiated under a new prime minister, would give Britain a 99-year lease of the base, with the option to extend. The UK government has not denied that the lease would cost the UK £90 million ($111 million) a year. Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam has said his country would pursue its fight for full sovereignty over the islands if Washington refuses to support the deal.
© 2024 AFP
