US President approves UK-Mauritius agreement on Chagos Islands

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesman said the UK was working with the Mauritius government to finalise a deal on the Chagos Islands following discussions with the US.

Fuel storage tanks at a military airstrip on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago. (Photo: Reuters)

According to a VNA correspondent in London, on April 1, the British Prime Minister's Office said that US President Donald Trump has officially approved the proposed agreement between the UK and Mauritius on the future of the Chagos archipelago.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesman said Britain was working with the Mauritius government to finalise the deal following discussions with the US.

Under the deal, Britain would hand over sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritius in exchange for leasing back Diego Garcia, the largest atoll in the Indian Ocean archipelago, for an initial 99 years, with a 40-year extension.

The British government has given the US administration a veto over the draft agreement, due to the security implications for the joint UK-US military base at Diego Garcia.

President Donald Trump signaled his support for the deal at a meeting with Mr Starmer in the Oval Office in February.

Sources familiar with the talks said the deal would go ahead without further approval from Washington. Downing Street has not given a timetable for finalising and ratifying the agreement between London and Port Louis.

Britain first launched formal talks with Mauritius over the Chagos archipelago, also known as the British Indian Ocean Overseas Territory, in 2022 after years of disagreement over the archipelago.

In 1965, Britain decided to separate the Chagos archipelago from its colony of Mauritius, establish a military base there, and lease it to the United States. After gaining independence in 1968, Mauritius claimed sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago.

In recent years, there have been growing calls for Britain to hand over the Chagos Islands - one of its last overseas territories.

In 2019, the International Court of Justice recommended that Britain return the islands. That same year, the United Nations General Assembly also voted to call on Britain to withdraw./.

Source: https://www.vietnamplus.vn/tong-thong-my-chap-thuan-thoa-thuan-anh-mauritius-ve-quan-dao-chagos-post1024206.vnp