An undated file photo shows Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago and site of a major United States military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean leased from Britain in 1966. REUTERS/HO/U.S. Navy
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain said on Thursday it would give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a deal that would allow people displaced decades ago to return home while London retained use of the important UK-U.S. military base on Diego Garcia.
Britain said that the operation of Diego Garcia, a strategic airbase in the Indian Ocean jointly operated with the United States, was protected by the agreement, which also allows Mauritius to resettle the rest of the islands after its population was displaced.
U.S. President Joe Biden welcomed the deal, saying it would secure the effective operation of the airbase into the next century.
"Diego Garcia is the site of a joint U.S.-UK military facility that plays a vital role in national, regional, and global security," he said in a statement.
British Foreign Minister David Lammy said that the contested sovereignty of the islands and ongoing legal challenges meant the long-term future of the Diego Garcia site had been under threat.
"Today's agreement secures this vital military base for the future. It will strengthen our role in safeguarding global security," Lammy said in a statement.
EXPELLED ISLANDERS
Britain, which has controlled the region since 1814, detached the Chagos Islands in 1965 from Mauritius - a former colony that became independent three years later - to create the British Indian Ocean Territory.
In the early 1970s, it evicted almost 2,000 residents to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for an airbase on the largest island, Diego Garcia, which it had leased to the United States in 1966.
A non-binding resolution in the United Nations General Assembly in 2019 said Britain should give up control of the islands and that it had wrongfully forced the population to leave.
In 2016, Britain's Foreign Ministry extended Diego Garcia's lease until 2036, and declared the expelled islanders would not be allowed to go back.
The deal marks a change of approach to the issue from new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who has said his government would be, in part, defined by a respect for international law after his Labour Party won power in July.
"He underscored his steadfast duty to national and global security which underpinned the political agreement reached today," Starmer's office said in a readout of a call with Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth.
Mauritius's foreign affairs ministry and prime minister's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
However, some in Britain's opposition Conservative Party criticised the agreement.
"Weak, weak, weak!," former foreign minister James Cleverly, who is running to be the next Conservative leader, said on X.
Under the agreement Britain will be authorised to exercise sovereign rights over Diego Garcia in order to ensure the continued operation of the base for an initial 99 years.
Its strategic importance was demonstrated during the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, where it acted as a launch pad for long-range bombers.
(Reporting by Alistair Smout, William James, Muvija M and Michael Holden, additional reporting by Hereward Holland in Nairobi; Editing by Kate Holton and Sharon Singleton)
