Britain signed an agreement on Thursday to advance the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, after the London judge overturned the last minute court order and cleaned the way for an agreement claiming to be essential for the security of the nation.
The agreement with more billions of dollars will allow Britain to maintain control of the strategically important air base of the US-UK on Diego Garcia, the largest island of the Indian Ocean, 99 years of rent.
The signing continued after a carefully choreographic ceremony, when the lawyers representing the British national born on the Chagos Islands were awarded a provisional court order on Thursday.
Judge Martin Chamberlain then canceled this order after hearing and said that British interests would be “essentially prejudices” if the court order should continue.
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The government, which was criticized by opposition parties for monitoring an agreement claiming to be too expensive and playing in the hands of China, has long said that the agreement is necessary to ensure the future of Diego Garcia.
“The strategic placement of this base is of the greatest importance to Britain, since the deployment of aircraft to the defeat of terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan to the foresters of threats in the Red Sea and Indo-Pacific,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer said at a press conference.
“By agreeing to this agreement now, we provide strong protection, including malignant influence, which will allow the base to function well by the next century.”
Signing of the months, when he registers over an agreement, whose details were first announced in October, after the then Maurit leader Pravind Jugnauth was replaced by Prime Minister Navin Ramgoool, who raised concerns about him.
After the inauguration of US President Donald Trump, it was further delayed, and London wanted to give a new management time to explore the details of the plan. In February Trump indicated his support for the agreement.
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The latest legal challenge
The court order was the latest legal challenge to agree in the last two decades brought by the wider Chagossian Diaspora, many of whom ended in Britain after being forcibly removed from the archipelago more than 50 years ago.
This was awarded after the event Bertrice Pompe, a British national who was born in Diego Garcia and criticized the agreement for the exclusion of the Chagossians.
James Eadie, a government lawyer, said the delay damaged British interests and “for our international relations is endangered … (including) our most important security and intelligence partner, the US”
It is one minor headache for Starmer, who is under fire from his own government Labor Party for the implementation of cuts in social security to try to better level British books.
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But Starmer’s political opponents were again critical of the agreement and claimed that it was costly and the assignment of sovereignty, China could further deepen its ties with Mauritius, which benefited the influence of Beijing on the Indian Ocean.
“The Chagos Labourova surrender agreement is bad for our defensive and security interests, bad for British taxpayers and bad for British Chagossians,” a spokesman for foreign affairs of the conservative party Priti Patel said on the X.
The financial component of the agreement includes £ 3 billion, which Britain is to pay Mauritius during the 99 -year period of the agreement, with the possibility of 50 years of extension, and then UK will keep the right to the first rejection.
The base capabilities are large and strategically essential. Recent operations initiated from Diego Garcia include bomber strikes about Houthi’s goals in Yemen in 2024-2025, deployment of humanitarian aid to Gaza and back, attacks on Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan in 2001.
(Tagstotranslate) Chagos Islands
