A invoice laying out plans to return the Indian Ocean archipelago, dwelling to the US-UK Diego Garcia base, has been paused.
Revealed On 11 Apr 2026
The UK is setting apart a invoice to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius amid an absence of help from United States President Donald Trump, as Mauritius vows to “spare no effort” to reclaim the archipelago.
“Now we have all the time stated we might solely proceed with the deal if it has US help,” a UK authorities spokesperson stated in a press release, in keeping with the Reuters and AFP information businesses on Saturday.
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This adopted reviews within the UK media that stated a invoice laying out plans to cede sovereignty of the 60-plus Indian Ocean islands had been dropped from the following parliamentary agenda, which begins on Might 13.
Final Might, the UK and Mauritius collectively introduced a deal that might return full sovereignty of Chagos to Mauritius, which is a few 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) away from the archipelago.
Britain would then pay to lease Diego Garcia – the most important island and a strategic location in the midst of the Indian Ocean between Asia and Africa, which is dwelling to the army base – on a 99-year lease to protect US operations there.
However Trump opposed the transfer, calling it an “act of nice stupidity” in January.
“Diego Garcia is a key strategic army asset for each the UK and the US. Making certain its long-term operational safety is and can proceed to be our precedence – it’s the whole purpose for the deal,” the UK authorities spokesperson added in his assertion.
“We’re persevering with to have interaction with the US and Mauritius.”
The assertion added that the UK “proceed[s] to imagine the settlement is one of the best ways to guard the long-term way forward for the bottom”.
Mauritius, for its half, pledged not quit on repossession efforts.
Talking at an Indian Ocean Convention hosted in Mauritius on Saturday, Overseas Minister Dhananjay Ramful stated that his authorities would “spare no effort to grab any diplomatic or authorized avenue to finish the decolonisation course of on this a part of the Indian Ocean”.
“It is a matter of justice,” he added.
‘Huge mistake’
After Trump’s preliminary opposition, he appeared to momentarily again down in February after talking with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, saying Starmer had made the “finest deal he may make”.
However he then attacked the prime minister once more on Fact Social weeks later.
“He’s making a giant mistake,” Trump wrote, including that ceding the Chagos Islands can be “a blight on our Nice Ally”.
Over the past six weeks, relations between Trump and Starmer have been additional strained by the US-Israel conflict on Iran.
The UK is now main a coalition of greater than 30 international locations to guard vessels within the Strait of Hormuz, with out US participation within the preliminary talks.
Simon McDonald, who beforehand served because the UK Overseas Workplace’s most senior civil servant, advised BBC Radio that Trump’s place compelled the settlement to “go into the deep freeze in the meanwhile”.
“When the president of america is overtly hostile, the federal government has to rethink”, he stated.
Britain has managed the Chagos since 1814, together with after Mauritius gained independence within the Nineteen Sixties. The Diego Garcia base has performed a key function in US army operations in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Chagossians – 1000’s of whom have been forcibly evicted to make approach for the bottom – have introduced compensation claims to British courts, culminating in a 2019 Worldwide Court docket of Justice suggestion that the archipelago be returned to Mauritius.
