United Kindom agrees to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius

The United Kingdom and Mauritius have reached an agreement under which the United Kingdom will return the Chagos Islands and the atoll of Diego Garcia to Mauritius. This agreement marks the end of British colonialism on the African continent.

The agreement was announced in a joint statement issued by the United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth on 3 October 2024.

Under the agreement, the natives displaced from the Chagos Islands will have the right to return and settle on the Chagos Islands, except Diego Garcia.

The United Kingdom will retain a 99-year lease of the Diego Garcia islands, where an important United States Military base is located.

Dispute about the Chagos Archipelago 

• The Chagos Archipelago comprises around 60 islands situated in the central Indian Ocean. It is about 500 kilometres south of Maldives. 
• The island, part of Mauritius, was occupied by the United Kingdom in 1810. 
• Before giving independence to Mauritius in 1968, the United Kingdom separated the Chagos archipelago from Mauritius and made it a British Indian Ocean Territory. 
• The main reason the United Kingdom refused to hand over the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius is the Diego Garcia atoll's military significance.

Increasing isolation of the United Kingdom 

• Mauritius took the dispute between the United Kingdom and Mauritius to the International Court of Justice. The court ruled in favour of Mauritius and asked the United Kingdom to return the Chagos island to Mauritius.
• The United Nations General Assembly has passed resolutions in support of Mauritius and asked the United Kingdom government to hand over the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius. 
• The increasing diplomatic isolation on the issue has been one of the major factors in the United Kingdom government's decision to hand over the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius.

Importance of Diego Garcia 

Diego Garcia is an atoll in the Indian Ocean, situated along the major international trade routes between Africa and Asia. 

• It is a military base of the United Kingdom and the United States. It is a United States Navy Support facility base that also provides a base to the long-range bomber of the United States Air Force.
• The base provides logistic support to the American operational forces deployed in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf region.
• The base played a crucial role during the Gulf War and the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
• In the 1970s, during the cold war period, the United States sought a military base in the Indian Ocean to counter the Soviet Union. 
• The United Kingdom agreed to allow the United States to build and operate a military base in Diego Garcia.
• In the 1970s, during the construction of the military base, the United States and the United Kingdom forcibly removed all the inhabitants from the archipelago and sent them to the Seychelles and Mauritius.