{"id":37674,"date":"2023-12-09T10:29:18","date_gmt":"2023-12-09T10:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/uk-drops-plans-to-hand-chagos-islands-back-to-mauritius"},"modified":"2023-12-09T11:08:15","modified_gmt":"2023-12-09T11:08:15","slug":"uk-drops-plans-to-hand-chagos-islands-back-to-mauritius","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/uk-drops-plans-to-hand-chagos-islands-back-to-mauritius","title":{"rendered":"UK drops plans to hand Chagos Islands back to Mauritius"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. <\/strong><\/span>Britain will drop plans to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius under a new strategy being drawn up by Grant Shapps, informs \u2018The Telegraph\u2019. The Defence Secretary is understood to be alarmed by Foreign Office plans to negotiate a \u201cCyprus-style\u201d deal to hand Mauritius the Chagos Islands, which have been British-owned since 1814.<\/p>\n

The United Nations has called for the islands to be returned, with a UN court ruling Britain\u2019s possession of the overseas territory \u201cunlawful\u201d. Located in the Indian Ocean, 310 miles south of The Maldives, the Chagos Islands are home to the Diego Garcia military base, which is leased by the UK to the United States and has been used for American bombing missions in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

The archipelago is known in the UK as the British Indian Ocean Territory. Lord Cameron, the Foreign Secretary, was approached by Mr Shapps and Oliver Dowden, the Deputy Prime Minister, after taking office last month and urged to scrap plans to give the islands away.<\/p>\n

All three ministers are understood to be concerned that ceding them to Mauritius, which is allied with China, would endanger the UK\u2019s \u201cspecial relationship\u201d with the US and its defence interests in the Indo-Pacific region.<\/p>\n

The islands have been the subject of a decades-long dispute with Mauritius, which won a ruling at the International Court of Justice in 2019 to have Britain\u2019s ownership declared unlawful and for the islands to be returned \u201cas rapidly as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

The court\u2019s decision was welcomed by the United Nations general assembly, which voted by a large majority for the islands to be relinquished. The US and Australia voted with the UK for them to be retained by the Crown.<\/p>\n

In 2021, a separate UN maritime court in Hamburg found that the UK\u2019s control of the islands amounted to an \u201cunlawful occupation\u201d. However, Mr Shapps, who took office in August, is understood to have told officials that the islands should remain under British control, rejecting the international court ruling and defying the UN.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrant is very against giving the islands back to Mauritius,\u201d said a government source.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe and [Lord] Cameron came in, and said: \u2018What the hell is going on here?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Their concerns are understood to be mirrored by the US, which believes the well-placed base could be compromised if Mauritius gained control of the islands.<\/p>\n

Mauritius\u2019s ally China is locked in competition with US forces in the Indo-Pacific region. The US used Diego Garcia to fly bombing missions to Afghanistan in the aftermath of the 9\/11 attacks, and to Iraq from 2003.<\/p>\n

Since 2006, it has been used as an \u201cunsinkable aircraft carrier\u201d facility to supply troops working in the Middle East. The move to retain the islands would put the UK Government in conflict with international law and inflame tensions with the UN, but would protect Britain\u2019s relationship with the US, sources suggested.<\/p>\n

Boris Johnson, the former prime minister, said in September that it would be a \u201ccolossal mistake\u201d to give away the Chagos Islands, describing a government plan to \u201chaul down the flag, casting doubt on a major Western strategic asset\u201d.<\/p>\n

The Chagos Islands were originally acquired by the UK in 1814 under the Treaty of Paris, which saw Britain take control of Mauritius and its dependencies from France. They were first split away from Mauritius in 1965, in the run-up to the island nation\u2019s independence from the UK in 1968.<\/p>\n

The UK expelled up to 2,000 indigenous people from the islands to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for the Diego Garcia base, prompting a human rights outcry that led to the establishment of a \u00a340 million compensation fund for displaced locals in 2016.<\/p>\n

A Foreign Office spokesman said: \u201cOur clear aim is the continued full operation of the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, which plays a crucial role in national, regional and global security.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe UK will only enter into an agreement that protects our national interests and those of our partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Mauritius<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Mauritius. Britain will drop plans to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius under a new strategy being drawn up by Grant Shapps, informs \u2018The Telegraph\u2019. The Defence Secretary is understood to be alarmed by Foreign Office plans to negotiate a \u201cCyprus-style\u201d deal to hand Mauritius the Chagos Islands, which have been British-owned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":37673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[233,245,1767,241],"class_list":["post-37674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mauritius","tag-chagos","tag-mauritius"],"yoast_head":"\nUK drops plans to hand Chagos Islands back to Mauritius - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Britain will drop plans to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius under a new strategy being drawn up by Grant Shapps ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/uk-drops-plans-to-hand-chagos-islands-back-to-mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UK drops plans to hand Chagos Islands back to Mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Britain will drop plans to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius under a new strategy being drawn up by Grant Shapps ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/uk-drops-plans-to-hand-chagos-islands-back-to-mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mauritius\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-09T10:29:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-12-09T11:08:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/12\/sm_1702107300.041449.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"820\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"509\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/uk-drops-plans-to-hand-chagos-islands-back-to-mauritius#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/uk-drops-plans-to-hand-chagos-islands-back-to-mauritius\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"UK drops plans to hand Chagos Islands back to Mauritius\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-09T10:29:18+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-12-09T11:08:15+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/uk-drops-plans-to-hand-chagos-islands-back-to-mauritius\"},\"wordCount\":679,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/uk-drops-plans-to-hand-chagos-islands-back-to-mauritius#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/sites\/61\/2023\/12\/sm_1702107300.041449.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mauritius\",\"Chagos\",\"Mauritius\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/uk-drops-plans-to-hand-chagos-islands-back-to-mauritius#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/uk-drops-plans-to-hand-chagos-islands-back-to-mauritius\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/uk-drops-plans-to-hand-chagos-islands-back-to-mauritius\",\"name\":\"UK drops plans to hand Chagos Islands back to Mauritius - 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