UN Welcomes Accord Between Britain and Mauritius on Chagos Island

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The Indian Ocean archipelago is home to a strategically important naval and bomber base on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia. Under the agreement, the U.K. will pay Mauritius an average of 101 million pounds (US$136 million) a year to lease back the base for at least 99 years.

The spokesman for the United Nations’ Secretary General said recently that the Secretary General welcomed the signing of the agreement between the UK and Mauritius concerning the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia.

Britain signed an agreement last Thursday to hand sovereignty over the contested Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a move the government says ensures the future of a U.S.-U.K. military base that is vital to British security.

The Indian Ocean archipelago is home to a strategically important naval and bomber base on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia. Under the agreement, the U.K. will pay Mauritius an average of 101 million pounds (US$136 million) a year to lease back the base for at least 99 years.

The agreement was struck in the face of opposition from some of the islands’ original residents, who were expelled decades ago to make way for the base. One of the last remnants of the British Empire, the Chagos Islands have been under U.K. control since 1814. Britain split the islands away from Mauritius, a former British colony, in 1965, three years before Mauritius gained independence.

Britain evicted as many as 2,000 people from the islands in the 1960s and 1970s so the U.S. military could build the Diego Garcia base, which has supported U.S. operations from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. It has facilities to accommodate nuclear submarines, aircraft carriers, and large aeroplanes, playing a key role in U.S. intelligence-gathering.

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Mauritius has long contested Britain’s claim to the archipelago, and the United Nations and its top court have urged Britain to return the Chagos to Mauritius, around 2,100 kilometres (1,250 miles) southwest of the islands.