United Kingdom - October 2024

On 3 October, the governments of the UK and Mauritius agreed to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius, marking the return of the UK’s last African colony. The deal recognizes Mauritius’s sovereignty over the archipelago, while the UK retains control of the Diego Garcia island for the next 99 years to support a US military base there. The UK separated Chagos from Mauritius when the country gained independence from Britain in 1968. The UK leased the archipelago to the US, resulting in the forced expulsion of the Chagossian population between 1965 and 1973. Chagossian Voices, a community organisation, condemned its exclusion from the negotiations. The UK has committed to establishing a trust fund for the descendants of the 1,500 Chagossians exiled from the islands. The deal comes after years of legal challenges brought by Chagossians and a 2019 International Court of Justice advisory opinion calling for the return of the islands to Mauritius.  

Sources: The Conversation, Al Jazeera, BBC, UK Government, UN News