UK signs £10bn deal with Mauritius to take back Chagos and secures 99-year military base lease, despite opposition from Chagossian
The UK gave up control of Chagos to Mauritius in exchange for a long-term military base lease, despite legal fights and protests from islanders.
The UK officially signed a historic deal that gives Mauritius back control of the Chagos Islands and gives the UK a 99-year lease on the Diego Garcia military base that could be extended for an additional £101 million per year.
In the early hours of Thursday, there was a major legal challenge to the deal. At 2:25am, a High Court injunction briefly stopped it.
But the order was the
released shortly after 12:30 p.m., allowing the government to move forward.
It is believed that the lease will cost at least £10 billion over its whole term.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer has supported the deal by saying it is “in the national interest” and necessary to protect the security interests of the UK and its allies. He also said that the deal would ensure stability “for 99 years and beyond” because of Diego Garcia’s strategic position and easy access to important resources.
The UK will give up control of the group of islands in the Indian Ocean and rent back the important island of Diego Garcia for 99 years at a cost of £101 million per year, or £3.4 billion.
The area will still be a shared military base between the US and UK. Prime Minister Keir Starmer called it “vital” to national security.
Starmer said that the time was right and warned that if something wasn’t done, Britain’s strategic presence could be at risk. “We had to act now,” he said, stressing that if Mauritius files new lawsuits, the UK has “no realistic chance of success.”
In the same way, Defense Secretary John Healey said in a government news release that foreign legal proceedings, especially through the Law of the Sea Convention tribunal, could make the base less useful. According to Healey, temporary rules could have made it harder for the UK military to patrol the waters around the country without the deal.
The UK government made it clear that the agreement has “robust provisions” to keep the base from being influenced by outsiders. A 24-nautical-mile border zone has been set up so that no infrastructure can be built without permission from the UK. Furthermore, outside security forces will not be allowed on the outer islands, and there will be ways for everyone to make decisions together to protect Diego Garcia’s activities.
However, while Westminster is focused on making strategic and diplomatic wins, the deal has brought back painful memories for Chagossians. Many of them were forced to leave their home country in the 1960s so that the base could be built.
“I am beyond shocked and angry,” said one activist. “We are not giving up,” said another.
People who are against the deal say that it doesn’t protect their right to go back to Diego Garcia, which is still off limits for resettlement.
Mauritius was still a British colony when the Chagos Islands were split off from it in 1965. Britain bought the land for £3 million and then kicked more than 1,000 people off of it. While the agreement that was just signed may end a diplomatic disagreement that had been going on for a long time, the Chagossian community still feels like something was wrong.
As the UK tries to protect its strategic position in the Indo-Pacific, critics say the deal’s real cost is not just billions of dollars, but also unhealed colonial wounds.
