Britain returns the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending years of dispute | Chagos Islands

The United Kingdom has agreed to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending years of bitter dispute over Britain's last African colony.

The United Kingdom expelled the Chagossians in the 1960s and 1970s in what was described as a crime against humanity when it retained the so-called British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) after independence from Mauritius in 1968.

The agreement follows 13 rounds of negotiations that began in 2022 after Mauritian sovereignty arguments were recognized by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN General Assembly and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Itlos) in 2019 and 2021.

It was found that Britain had illegally separated the Chagos Islands from Mauritius before granting independence in 1968. The UK initially resisted UN votes and court rulings calling for the return of the islands, stressing that the International Court of Justice ruling was only an “advice”.

Under the agreement announced Thursday, the United Kingdom will retain control of the British-American military base on Diego Garcia, one of the islands. The United Kingdom separated the Chagos Islands from the rest of Mauritius and displaced between 1,500 and 2,000 islanders so that it could lease Diego Garcia to the United States for military use. Since then, the two allies have operated the base together.

The Guardian understands that the treaty provides for a right of return to all islands in the Chagos archipelago, with the exception of Diego Garcia.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the British government had “secured the base's future and guaranteed our long-term relationship with Mauritius, a close Commonwealth partner.”

US President Joe Biden hailed the deal as “clear evidence that … countries can overcome long-standing historical challenges to achieve peaceful and mutually beneficial outcomes.”

The campaign challenging British ownership of the Chagos Archipelago also included Mauritian UN Ambassador Jagdish Koonjul raising his country's flag over the atoll of Peros Banhos in a ceremony in February 2022. This was the first time that Mauritius led an expedition to the area since the expulsions.

Chagossians have held different views on what justice would look like, including the future status of the islands. While there are those determined to exercise their right to return, some believe only around 50 people would do so.

Many Chagossians wanted self-determination because they feared their identity would be lost if ownership was transferred to Mauritius, which did not recognize the islands as an independent territory.

An attempt to break off the negotiations on the grounds that the Chagossians had not been consulted or included failed.

Chagossian Voices, a community organization of Chagossians based in the United Kingdom and several other countries, condemned the British government's lack of consultation with them ahead of Thursday's announcement.

It said: “Chagossian Voices deplore the exclusion of the Chagossian community from the negotiations that led to this declaration of intent on the sovereignty of our homeland.” Chagossians learned of this outcome from the media and remain committed to determining our own future and the future our homeland is powerless and voiceless. The views of the Chagossians, the indigenous inhabitants of the islands, have been consistently and deliberately ignored and we demand full inclusion in the drafting of the treaty.”

Other Chagossians focused on their rights and status in the United Kingdom. In 2022, the Home Office said descendants of islanders who were forcibly removed would soon be able to apply for British citizenship.

Human Rights Watch said in a report last year that the U.K. should pay full and unconditional reparations to the generations affected by the violent displacement of residents of the Chagos Islands in the 1960s and 70s, calling it “an appalling move.” Colonial crimes” and a crime against humanity Great Britain and the USA.

Three of the four candidates in the Conservative leadership contest criticized the decision to return the islands to Mauritius, even though negotiations began under the Tory government.

There have been 11 rounds of negotiations with the previous government and two under the current Labor government, with Jonathan Powell, Tony Blair's chief of staff, appointed to lead the talks last month.

The British government said the political agreement was subject to the completion of a treaty and supporting legal instruments, which both sides committed to as quickly as possible.