The British government has handed control of the strategically significant Chagos Islands to Mauritius, after the controversial, multi-billion pound move survived an eleventh-hour legal challenge and months of criticism on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed on Thursday that the islands will return to the African country, closing Britain\u2019s last colonial outpost on the continent while maintaining control of the\u00a0US-UK Diego Garcia military base.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Britain will pay \u00a3101 million ($135 million) a year as part of the package, for a total cost of \u00a33.4 billion ($4.5 bn), Starmer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It comes after a High Court judge briefly blocked the transfer on Thursday, following a challenge by two Chagossian women living in Britain who had opposed the deal on human rights grounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And it follows month of criticism, including from allies of Starmer and US President Donald Trump, over the development, which gives control of the land surrounding a key US military location to a close trading partner of China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Starmer told reporters on Thursday that Diego Garcia is \u201cone of the most significant contributions that we make to our security relationship with the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPresident Trump has welcomed the deal, along with other allies, because they see the strategic importance of this base and that we cannot cede the ground to others who would seek to do us harm,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Starmer framed the move as a long-awaited solution to a colonial-era arrangement that had posed an ethical and legal dilemma. But the UK\u2019s negotiations with Mauritius over the Chagos Islands have been convoluted and controversial, right up until the hours before they were agreed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
London is paying billions to lose control of a territory, and Mauritius is heavily reliant on imports from China, which has raised national security concerns on both sides of the Atlantic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf Mauritius took us to court again, which they certainly would have, the UK\u2019s longstanding legal view is that we would not have a realistic prospect of success and would likely face provisional measures orders within a matter of weeks,\u201d Starmer said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that he has \u201cno alternative but to act in Britain\u2019s national interest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we did not agree this deal the legal situation would mean that we would not be able to prevent China or any other nation setting up their own bases on the outer islands or carrying out joint exercises near our base,\u201d Starmer said. \u201cWe would have to explain to you, the British people and to our allies, that we\u2019d lost control of this vital asset.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Grant Shapps, a former Conservative defense minister,\u00a0told CNN earlier this year\u00a0that the plan was \u201cinsane.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201c(China) will use territory to expand their influence. They will spy,\u201d Shapps told CNN. \u201cA lot of sensitive stuff goes on at British military bases. So you don\u2019t want to be surrounded by potential adversaries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Critics of the deal were given unlikely hope just hours before it was set to be completed, with the temporary injunction leaving plans in the balance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bernadette Dugasse and Bertrice Pompe, who brought the legal challenge, have criticized the government for negotiating on the future of the islands without consulting the exiled Chagossian community, which itself has a fraught history with Mauritius.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have rights. We are British citizens, yet our right doesn\u2019t count?\u201d Pompe said outside the High Court Thursday after her case was concluded, according to PA Media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t want to give our rights, hand over our rights to Mauritius. We\u2019re not Mauritians, and I don\u2019t think we will get any\u2026 the rights we\u2019re asking for now we\u2019ve been fighting for for 60 years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Britain has controlled the region since 1814, and in 1965 it split the Chagos Islands from Mauritius before that former colony became independent. London kept control of the archipelago and renamed it as the British Indian Ocean Territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It then evicted almost 2,000 residents to Mauritius and the Seychelles to create space for an airbase on the largest island, Diego Garcia, which it leased to the United States. The secretive base is important to Washington\u2019s interests, giving it a significant military presence in the Indian Ocean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But its future was thrown into uncertainty in 2019, when the International Court of Justice (ICJ)\u00a0ruled\u00a0Britain should return the islands \u201cas rapidly as possible,\u201d so that they could be decolonized in \u201ca manner consistent with the right of peoples to self-determination.\u201d That ruling was advisory, but it was endorsed overwhelmingly by the United Nations General Assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The British government has handed control of the strategically significant Chagos Islands to Mauritius, after the controversial, multi-billion pound move survived an eleventh-hour legal challenge and months of criticism on both sides of the Atlantic. Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed on Thursday that the islands will return to the African country, closing Britain\u2019s last colonial […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40562,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[212,259],"tags":[7,213,260],"class_list":{"0":"post-40561","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-history","8":"category-legal","9":"tag-apie-project","10":"tag-history","11":"tag-legal"},"yoast_head":"\n