The British government said Saturday it has paused plans to hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after criticism from US President Donald Trump.
The Indian Ocean archipelago hosts a military base used by both the UK and the US. London agreed a deal last year to transfer sovereignty to its former colony but the plan has since come under attack from Trump.
Why the plan was frozen
Trump, despite initially appearing to accept the arrangement, later denounced it as “an act of great stupidity.” The agreement would have left the UK in control of the military base on Diego Garcia under a 99-year lease, with options to extend, allowing the US to continue operations there. The handover required formal approval from Washington.
“We continue to believe the agreement is the best way to protect the long-term future of the base, but we have always said we would only proceed with the deal if it has US support. We are continuing to engage with the U.S. and Mauritius,” the British government said.
Simon McDonald, formerly the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, said on BBC radio: “When the president of the United States is openly hostile, the government has to rethink, so this agreement… will go into the deep freeze for the time being.”
Reactions to the U-turn
Mauritius, about 2,000 kilometers southwest of the islands, said it will persist in efforts to regain control. Mauritian Foreign Minister Dhananjay Ramful vowed to “spare no effort to seize any diplomatic or legal avenue to complete the decolonization process in this part of the Indian Ocean.”
Indigenous Chagossians—around 2,000 people displaced in the 1960s and 70s to make way for the base—had been cautious about the plan, fearing persecution if the islands came under Mauritian rule. Toby Noskwith, spokesperson for the Indigenous Chagossian People campaign group, welcomed the reversal. He said the past 18 months had been “predicated on delegitimising and tormenting an entire population” and that the process had largely ignored the Chagossians, especially elders and survivors.
Impact on UK-US ties
The row over the Chagos deal has further strained the so-called “special relationship” between the UK and the US. Observers say Trump’s disagreements with NATO allies—over issues such as Greenland and allied support related to Iran—have taken a toll on relations. In criticizing the Chagos deal in January, Trump warned that “China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness,” remarks that have also been cited in other diplomatic disputes.
London has been cautious about allowing joint bases to be used for offensive actions against Iran, though it allowed Diego Garcia to be used for what it described as “defensive operations” during recent tensions.
Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez