Prime minister of Mauritius reopens talks with UK over Chagos Islands deal 

A historic deal for the United Kingdom to hand over control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius has been put into question after the African island country’s new prime minister issued “counterproposals”.

The British government still plans to hand over control of the chain of 60-some islands to Mauritius under the condition that a strategic joint UK-US military base on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia, would remain under British control for at least 99 years.

Mauritius’s Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, who took office last month, said on Tuesday that he was reopening negotiations because the current deal “would not produce the benefits that the nation could expect from such an agreement”.

Ramgoolam told lawmakers in Mauritius’s parliament that his government “is still willing to conclude an agreement with the United Kingdom” and had submitted counterproposals.

Britain’s minister for UK overseas territories, Stephen Doughty, said on Wednesday that he was confident the deal would be finalised and that it is “completely understandable” for the new Mauritian government to seek time to review the details.

“I am confident that we have agreed a good and fair deal that is in both sides’ interests,” he told lawmakers in the House of Commons. “It protects the base at proportionate cost. It has been supported across the national security architecture in the United States and by India.”

The UK’s opposition Conservatives have accused the government of surrendering sovereignty over a British territory.

US President Joe Biden praised the agreement as “historic”, emphasising its importance for the future of the US Navy base on Diego Garcia. However, supporters of US President-elect Donald Trump have criticised the deal.

The base, which is home to about 2,500 American military personnel, has been described as “an all but indispensable platform” for security operations in the Middle East, South Asia and East Africa.

The Chagos Islands have been under British control since 1814. In the 1960s and 1970s, Britain forcibly evicted nearly 2,000 locals to make way for the US military base, which played a pivotal role in US military operations in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. In 2008, the US also acknowledged that the base had been used for covert rendition flights of “terrorism” suspects.

The displaced Chagossians have fought for years in British courts for the right to return to their homeland. Under the terms of the new agreement, they and their descendants would be allowed to return to the islands, though they would be excluded from Diego Garcia.

Mauritius, an African nation located about 2,100 kilometres (1,300 miles) southwest of the Chagos Islands, lies off the eastern coast of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean.