(AFP) – Britain has shelved plans to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after strong opposition from US President Donald Trump, who has previously described the move “an act of great stupidity”. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Downing Street office stated that the deal would proceed only “if it has US support”, following reports that the Chagos legislation risked running out of parliamentary time with no fresh bill planned. The remote Indian Ocean archipelago, whose main island is Diego Garcia, was bought by Britain in 1965 before Mauritius gained independence. Following the purchase, the local population was expelled, and Britain leased the territory to the United States, establishing what became one of its most strategic military bases. Britain’s ownership has been disputed for years, with the United Nations ruling in 2019 that the UK should hand back the roughly 55 islands and atolls.
– **Mass eviction**
In 1965, Britain separated the Chagos Islands from the rest of Mauritius, which was then a semi-autonomous British territory, and paid three million pounds to acquire them, equivalent to around $65 million today. When Mauritius became independent three years later, the islands remained under British control and were renamed the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). In 1966, Britain leased the islands to the US for 50 years to set up a military base, extending the deal to 2036 in 2016. Between 1968 and 1973, around 2,000 Chagos islanders were evicted, described in a British diplomatic cable at the time as the removal of a few “Tarzans and Man Fridays”. Most were shipped to Mauritius and the Seychelles. Mauritius argued that it was illegal for Britain to break up its territory and demanded the right to resettle the former residents.
– **Strategic military base**
The US military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island, played a significant strategic role during the Cold War, offering proximity to Asia as a growing Soviet navy extended communist influence in the Indian Ocean. After the 1979 revolution in Iran, the US expanded the base to accommodate more warships and heavy bombers. It later served as a staging ground for US bombing campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq, and was used recently to launch B-2 bomber attacks on Houthi rebels in Yemen during the Gaza war.
– **Islands returned**
Britain signed a deal with Mauritius in May 2025 to return the islands while paying to lease Diego Garcia for $136 million annually for 99 years, a move that London insisted would secure the use of the military base. This agreement follows decades of legal struggles that began in 1975 when Chagos islanders living in Mauritius launched legal proceedings against their expulsion. This led to a 1982 payment of four million pounds in compensation and land valued at one million pounds. In 2007, a British appeals court allowed Chagossians the possibility to return home, but this decision was annulled by the House of Lords the following year. In 2016, the British government confirmed its opposition to the resettlement of Chagossians, citing reasons of defense, security, and cost. Today, around 10,000 Chagossians and their descendants are spread between Mauritius, the Seychelles, and Britain.
– **ICJ ruling**
In 2010, Britain declared the islands part of a Marine Protected Area, arguing that people should not be permitted to live there. Diplomatic cables revealed by WikiLeaks quoted a British official stating that this plan “put paid to the resettlement claims of the archipelago’s former residents”. However, this move backfired when a UN arbitration tribunal declared it illegal in 2015. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) stated in 2019 that Britain had illegally split the islands and should relinquish control. Britain rejected the ruling, asserting that Mauritius was wrong to bring the case to court and arguing that the Diego Garcia base played a “vital role” in maintaining regional security. Later that year, a UN General Assembly resolution demanded that Britain cede the islands.
– **Colonial history**
Located several hundred kilometers south of the Maldives, the Chagos Islands were colonized by France in the 18th century, with African slaves shipped in to cultivate coconuts and copra. In 1814, France ceded the islands to Britain, which in 1903 merged them with Mauritius, its colony located around 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) to the southwest. After the abolition of slavery in 1834, Indian workers arrived and mixed with the first settlers. Only three of the islands were inhabited: Diego Garcia, Salomon, and Peros Banhos.
© 2024 AFP
