LONDON (AP) – The British government on Thursday ceded sovereignty over the long-disputed Chagos Islands, an archipelago of more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius in a deal that secures the future of the strategically important Anglo-American relationship. agreed to do so. military base.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the deal would secure the future of the Diego Garcia base, the largest in a chain of islands off the tip of India that has been under British control for more than 50 years. The base has approximately 2,500 members, mostly Americans, who have participated in military operations such as the 2003 Iraq War and the long-running Afghanistan War.
Britain’s Labor government said that without a deal, sovereignty would be challenged, legal challenges through various international tribunals and tribunals and the safe operation of military bases would be threatened.
“This not only strengthens our role in keeping the world safe and prevents the Indian Ocean from being used as a dangerous illegal migration route to the UK, but also strengthens our relationship with our close Commonwealth partner Mauritius. A long-term relationship will also be ensured,” said Lamy. Said.
The agreement also paves the way for the possible return of the few people still alive who were forcibly expelled from their island homes decades ago.
As part of the deal, Britain will retain sovereignty over Diego Garcia for an initial 99 years and will pay an undisclosed ground rent to Mauritius. A “resettlement” fund will also be created to help displaced Chagossians return to islands other than Diego Garcia.
The Chagos Islands, with their lush vegetation and long stretches of white sand, conjure up images of paradise, but since they were siphoned off from the former British colony of Mauritius in 1965, they remain the center of what Britain calls the British Indian Ocean Territory. It becomes. The colony achieved independence three years later. Mauritius is located in southern Africa, east of Madagascar and approximately 2,100 kilometers (1,250 miles) southwest of the Chagos Islands.
Following a lease with Britain, the United States built Diego Garcia Naval Base for defense purposes in the 1970s. The US describes the base as a “nearly essential platform” for security operations in the Middle East, South Asia and East Africa.
About 1,500 people were evacuated from the Chagos archipelago to make way for a US military base, which Human Rights Watch said last year amounted to “crimes against humanity committed by a colonial power against indigenous peoples.” said.
Chagossian Voices, a UK-based group representing the Chagossian diaspora around the world, expressed disappointment that displaced people had been left out of the negotiations.
“Chagossians learned of this outcome from the media and remain powerless and voiceless in determining our own future and the future of our homeland,” it said in a statement on social media. “The views of the island’s indigenous Chagossians have been consistently and deliberately ignored and we demand their full inclusion in the draft treaty.”
This agreement must be signed in a treaty and is subject to final legal proceedings. Both sides promised to complete this as soon as possible.
A spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he spoke with Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth on Thursday morning and welcomed the agreement, which follows two years of negotiations that began under the previous Conservative government.
“Fifty-six years after independence, decolonization is finally complete,” Jugnauth said in a televised address to the nation late Thursday.
The Mauritian government said the treaty aims to not only address “past mistakes” but also resolve all outstanding issues related to the island, including “former inhabitants.”
The report highlights the hope that surviving displaced persons and their descendants will have the right to return, as the UK, Mauritius and the Seychelles Islands remain “free” to undertake resettlement programs. came out. Islands except Diego Garcia.
It added that the UK would provide financial support to the Chagossians. The Chagossians have been engaged in a long legal battle over their forced evictions, most recently losing in 2016 in a British Supreme Court decision. Although there is a right to return, he expressed “deep regret” for the mistreatment of the Chagossian community in the 1960s and 1970s.
For many years, the Chagos Islands and Mauritius have attracted international support, particularly among African countries and within the United Nations. In 2019, the International Court of Justice ruled in a non-binding advisory option that Britain illegally partitioned Mauritius when it agreed to end colonial rule in the late 1960s.
President Joe Biden praised the “historic agreement” on the status of the Chagos Islands. “This agreement ensures the effective operation of the joint facility on Diego Garcia Island for the next century,” a White House statement said.
In the UK, Conservative Party MPs, who are the UK Opposition Leader, expressed regret over the decision to hand over sovereignty of all but one island. The comment was criticized given that the previous Conservative government initiated the negotiations.
One of the candidates, Tom Tugendhat, said he had consistently opposed any plan to hand over sovereignty over the islands, saying the move could result in Mauritius leasing one of the islands to China. I warned you.
“This is a shameful withdrawal that undermines our security and endangers our allies.”
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Associated Press writer Gerald Imlay in Cape Town, South Africa, contributed to this report.
