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The government of Mauritius has stated that it has submitted amendments to a proposed deal over the future of the Chagos Islands, with the nation’s new Prime Minister stating that the original agreement did not benefit his country enough. Under the terms of the original deal, which was declared in October, the United Kingdom would cede sovereignty to Mauritius over the archipelago but maintain a 99-year lease over Diego Garcia, which is home to a significant UK-US military airbase. The deal was finalised shortly before the former Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth was defeated in a landslide election.
Since coming to power, the current Prime Minister, Navin Ramgoolam, has stated that he has reservations about the deal, and the government has submitted its own counter-proposals aimed at ensuring that any final agreement aligns with the nation’s interests. Speaking in the Mauritian parliament, Ramgoolam confirmed that his government had received the United Kingdom’s response to these proposals on Monday and that it was under review. A delegation of senior officials from the UK, led by Harriet Mathews, director general for Africa, the Americas, and Overseas Territories at the Foreign Office, visited Mauritius last week to further the negotiations.
In the UK, the opposition Conservative party stated that the terms of the proposed agreement were “disadvantageous to the United Kingdom”. In a letter to the UK Prime Minister, the shadow defence and foreign secretaries said they had “grave concerns about your Government’s plan to surrender sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory – and to pay for the privilege of doing so.”
The government of Mauritius has long argued that it was forced to give the Chagos Islands away illegally in return for its independence from the UK in 1968. The British government already agreed to lease Diego Garcia, the largest of the atolls, for use as a military base, after which more than 1,000 islanders were forcibly removed from the entire archipelago. The UK later apologised for the forced removal of these islanders and promised to hand over control of the islands when they were no longer needed for strategic purposes
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