All posts tagged: Chagos

Mauritius Tells UK It Will Wait Until End-July for Chagos Deal

Mauritius Tells UK It Will Wait Until End-July for Chagos Deal

Published by Sam Flores

PORT LOUIS, April 23 (Reuters) – Mauritius said it would ⁠wait ⁠up to the end of ⁠July for Britain to finalise a deal to hand over the ​Chagos Islands after London put the agreement on hold following objections from U.S. President Donald Trump.  A British ‌delegation met Mauritian Prime Minister ‌Navin Ramgoolam on Wednesday in their first talks since the UK paused the deal, ⁠which would ⁠cede sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius while retaining use ​of the U.S.-British military base on Diego Garcia island.  In comments to the national broadcaster after the talks, Attorney General Gavin Glover said Mauritius had no visibility on whether the U.S. government would ultimately ​give the required approval for the deal to move ahead.  “We will give them until ⁠the end ⁠of July,” Glover said ⁠on Wednesday. “We will ​wait until then, and at that point, the Mauritian government will have to decide ​on the way forward depending ⁠on what happens in the United Kingdom.” It was unclear what steps Mauritius might consider and what leverage it …

Chagos Islands deal shelved – legal expert explains what happens next

Chagos Islands deal shelved – legal expert explains what happens next

Published by Sam Flores

The UK government has shelved legislation to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, after the US government withdrew its support for the deal. Until and unless the US gives their consent, the UK will not be able to pass legislation, and the treaty between the UK and Mauritius to transfer sovereignty, signed in 2025, cannot be put into effect. This is because the agreement would require a 1966 British-American treaty on the Chagos Islands to be amended. Formal letters needed to be exchanged for this to happen, and the US will not provide theirs. The US president, Donald Trump, has changed his mind on the issue several times. While initially granting support for the deal, in January 2026, he called it an “act of great stupidity”. In February 2026, Trump told the UK on social media: “DO NOT GIVE AWAY DIEGO GARCIA!”, saying that the US might want the US-UK military base on Diego Garcia to be used in operations against Iran. Under the deal, Mauritius would allow the US and UK to access, maintain, …

UK puts Chagos handover deal in ‘deep freeze’ after Trump criticism

UK puts Chagos handover deal in ‘deep freeze’ after Trump criticism

Published by Sam Flores

“DEEPLY FRUSTRATING” The UK had still not received a formal exchange of notes from Washington – a technical step but a legal necessity for the treaty to be enacted, Britain’s PA news agency reported. Time has consequently run out to pass the legislation before parliament is dissolved in the coming weeks, it said, quoting a government source as saying the situation was “deeply frustrating”. Main opposition Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch said the agreement should now find its “rightful place – on the ash heap of history”. “That it took so long is another damning indictment of a prime minister who fought to hand over British sovereign territory and pay 35 billion pounds to use a crucial military base which was already ours,” she said. Downing Street said the government would continue to “engage with the US and Mauritius”. “Diego Garcia is a key strategic military asset for both the UK and the US. Ensuring its long-term operational security is and will continue to be our priority – it is the entire reason for the …

Keir Starmer warned not to repeat Chagos fiasco in Cyprus | Politics | News

Keir Starmer warned not to repeat Chagos fiasco in Cyprus | Politics | News

Published by Sam Flores

Britain must not lose control of its military bases on Cyprus or risk a repeat of the Chagos Islands debacle, Sir Keir Starmer has been warned. The Government of Cyprus is reportedly preparing “at all levels” for negotiations on the future of the military bases on the island. This has triggered concerns Cyprus may seek its own version of the deal which saw the Labour Government agree to hand sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and lease back the UK-US Diego Garcia base. The Cyprus Mail reported government spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis saying that “at the appropriate time and where and when there is something which can be announced, it will be announced”. Britain’s Akrotiri airbase was hit by a drone strike earlier this month. This triggered questions about the UK’s capacity to protect the bases as the US and Israeli strikes on Iran continue. Another spokesman for the Cypriot Government said earlier in the week that it has received legal advice on the treaty which underpins the British presence on the bases. Cyprus’s President …

Why the Chagos Islands deal is delayed – and Mauritius is threatening to sue the UK

Why the Chagos Islands deal is delayed – and Mauritius is threatening to sue the UK

Published by Sam Flores

More than a year ago, the UK agreed to grant Mauritius sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, which Britain has governed as the British Indian Ocean Territory since 1965. But the treaty to transfer sovereignty has hit choppy waters. The deal has stalled in the UK parliament and Mauritius has now threatened legal action against the UK over the delay. For years, successive UK governments played the interests of the Chagossians off against those of Mauritius, to deflect potential threats to its control of the Chagos Islands. But just as that strategy has run out of road, the international legal order is under extreme pressure. Last month, the US president, Donald Trump, declared that the UK was “making a big mistake” in relinquishing the Chagos Islands, one of which, Diego Garcia, hosts a US-UK military base. This appears to have been prompted by Keir Starmer’s reluctance to let the US use Diego Garcia for preemptive strikes against Iran. Starmer later changed his position, with the caveat that any strikes should be defensive. How that distinction is …

Trump Chagos opposition leaves Britain facing new legal threat – POLITICO

Trump Chagos opposition leaves Britain facing new legal threat – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

That has left a significant hole in Mauritius’ budget, and Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam has told a local website he’s in talks with law firms to explore a fightback. “We are exploring legal avenues in the Chagos case,” he told Mauritian news organization Defi Media, arguing they’ll have to fill a 10 billion Mauritian Rupee hole (£160 million) in the nation’s coffers. “We are exploring all possible avenues, but clearly the 2026-27 budget will not be an easy one,” he added. The British government devised the deal in order to secure the joint U.S.-U.K. base because it feared losing the old colonial outpost in legal disputes with Mauritius. One U.K. government official, granted anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, said the loss of Trump support for the handover would create “a world of legal pain.” But a Foreign Office official countered there is no basis in international law for Mauritius to obtain compensation for the U.K. not ratifying the agreement. Source link

On the Chagos Islands, Trump Is Right

On the Chagos Islands, Trump Is Right

Published by José Betancourt

During the planning for President Trump’s latest strike on Iran, Britain refused to allow the United States to launch air attacks from the U.S.-U.K. base at Diego Garcia, an island in the Indian Ocean. Only a few hours’ flying time from the Middle East, Diego Garcia offers airfields long enough for the heaviest bombers and has naval docks large enough for aircraft carriers and nuclear submarines. It is British territory, left over from colonial times, but was jointly developed under a U.S.-U.K. agreement signed in 1966. Britain reversed its veto against U.S. use of British bases yesterday, but only for what Prime Minister Keir Starmer defined as “defensive” strikes. The delay and restrictions have dealt a blow to the U.S.-U.K. alliance. Unfortunately, Starmer’s Labour government seems bent on inflicting even harsher blows very soon. Britain’s veto seems to have been what prompted Trump’s outburst on Truth Social on February 18, which ended with, “DO NOT GIVE AWAY DIEGO GARCIA!” With this, Trump plunged into a controversy that has polarized British politics but attracted curiously little …

Britain has not paused Chagos Island deal ratification after US criticism

Britain has not paused Chagos Island deal ratification after US criticism

Published by Sam Flores

LONDON: Britain on Wednesday (Feb 25) rowed back from saying it had paused ratification of a deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago, which is home to a strategically important US-UK air base. Earlier, a foreign office minister had told parliament that the ratification process had been paused pending talks with the United States, but a spokesperson later said that was not the case. “There is no pause. We have never set a deadline. Timings will be announced in the usual way,” the spokesperson said. “We are continuing discussions with the US, and we have been clear we will not proceed without their support.” Last year British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed a deal to transfer sovereignty of the Indian Ocean islands to Mauritius, while keeping control of Diego Garcia through a 99-year lease that preserved US operations there. But Trump last week renewed his criticism of that deal, saying Starmer was making a “big mistake“. The bill to ratify the deal is currently in parliament’s upper chamber, where a number of objections have …

Labour Pauses Chagos Handover Deal For More Talks With US After Trump Outburst

Labour Pauses Chagos Handover Deal For More Talks With US After Trump Outburst

Published by Sam Flores

The government has paused its plans to hand the Chagos Islands over to Mauritius after criticism of the deal by Donald Trump. Labour announced last year that it intended to cede sovereignty of the archipelago while paying £99 billion to lease back the UK-US military base on the largest island, Diego Garcia, for the next 99 years. Trump initially backed the agreement but rowed back on his support in January amid a wider spat with European allies over Greenland’s sovereignty. A phone call from Keir Starmer then convinced the president this was the “best deal” available. But last week, Trump U-turned again, calling the plan a “blight” on the UK in an explosive social media post. He wrote on TruthSocial that he had told the UK PM “leases are no good when it comes to countries” and that Britain was “making a big mistake by entering a 100 year lease”. He added: “Prime minister Starmer is losing control of this important Island by claims of entities never known of before. In our opinion, they are …

Boris Johnson lobbied Donald Trump to block UK’s Chagos Islands deal – POLITICO

Boris Johnson lobbied Donald Trump to block UK’s Chagos Islands deal – POLITICO

Published by Sam Flores

Representatives for Johnson and Truss declined to comment. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. ‘Act of stupidity’ Trump’s position on the Chagos deal has flipped multiple times in recent weeks. He first came out against the “act of GREAT STUPIDITY” on Jan. 20, in what British officials believed was linked to Starmer criticizing his threats to seize Greenland.  After the PM led a diplomatic operation to get Trump back on board, the president conceded on Feb. 5 that it was the best deal Starmer could’ve made. But Trump unleashed his latest attack on the policy on his “Truth Social” platform on Feb. 18. In the U.K., the Times reported that the backdrop was another trans-Atlantic rift over Trump’s request to allow American planes to use British bases to attack Iran in the event of any conflict, with Britain assessing such a move would be in breach of international law. Trump’s latest Truth Social blast did link a possible use of Diego Garcia for an attack on Iran. He also …