Ending more than two hundred years of British authority in the area, the United Kingdom has officially ceded control of the Clagos Islands to Mauritius. Prime Minister Keir Starmer revealed the action following drawn-out political and legal arguments and in spite of a last-minute court injunction filed by members of the Chagossian community.
Worth £3.4 billion spread over several decades, the agreement lets Britain keep joint control of the Diego Garcia military base with the US. Starmer called the agreement a required step to safeguard national security interests and to stop foreign powers—especially China—from establishing a presence close to the strategically important base.
Critics caution about the possible security concerns raised by Mauritius’s economic links to China, therefore opposing the handover from both sides of the Atlantic. The exclusion of exiled Chagossians from the talks has also stirred controversy; many of them oppose Mauritian control of the islands and demand acknowledgment of their rights.
The transfer comes after a 2019 advisory decision of the International Court of Justice, backed by the United Nations General Assembly, which concluded that the UK should give the islands to Mauritius in furtherance of a wider decolonization campaign. Starmer claimed that not acting would probably have led to legal defeat and loss of influence over the territory, hence the agreement—albeit contentious—became a strategic necessity.
