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The Maldives has officially notified the United Kingdom that it does not acknowledge the agreement to transfer control of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. According to President Mohamed Muizzu’s office, the Maldives has communicated its objections through two formal written protests as well as a telephone conversation with UK Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy. The island nation asserts its sovereignty over the Chagos Islands, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, and has indicated the possibility of pursuing international legal measures to advance its claims.
The UK Foreign Office minister, Stephen Doughty, responded by emphasizing that the question of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands involves only Britain and Mauritius, excluding the Maldives from the dispute. A government source further noted that international courts have already addressed the issue, issuing rulings that favor Mauritius’s sovereignty. Britain has administered the Chagos Islands, formally known as the British Indian Ocean Territory, since the early 1800s.
Last year, the UK government agreed to cede control of the territory to Mauritius while continuing to lease a joint UK-US military base on the largest island, at an annual cost averaging £101 million. Mauritius has long claimed the islands and initiated legal actions internationally to assert its ownership. Some Labour ministers argue that failing to finalize a deal with Mauritius might jeopardize the military base’s future due to ongoing legal disputes. However, the transfer agreement has not yet been legally ratified in the UK and appears stalled indefinitely, partly influenced by former US President Donald Trump’s urging to UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to maintain British control over the islands.
The Maldives contests the proposed Mauritian takeover, citing deep historical connections to the Chagos Archipelago stretching back centuries. President Muizzu’s administration has articulated this stance clearly in a detailed statement, underscoring that the UK’s decision to negotiate solely with Mauritius lacks proper consideration of Maldivian interests. Official correspondence sent to the UK government in November 2024 and January 2026 conveyed these concerns and declared that the Maldives does not recognize the transfer. Muizzu personally warned Deputy Prime Minister Lammy in December that any shift of control must take into account Maldivian interests, highlighting the significant implications for Maldives’ sovereignty.
International legal rulings have bolstered Mauritius’s position: the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) in 2023 supported the 2019 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which declared the UK’s 1965 detachment of the Chagos Islands from Mauritius unlawful and urged Britain to end its administration promptly. Though the ICJ’s opinion is not legally binding, it influenced the near-unanimous UN General Assembly demand that the islands be returned to Mauritius. Despite this, the Maldives maintains its own claim, pointing to historical and geographic proximity as justification for sovereign rights over the archipelago. President Muizzu’s government has indicated it is carefully reviewing these judicial decisions and is prepared to submit a formal claim to the ICJ, pursuing all legitimate channels to protect national interests.
The prospect of Maldives initiating a legal challenge would complicate the UK’s existing arrangements with Mauritius, adding another layer to an already contentious situation. The deal’s viability faces additional uncertainty following Donald Trump’s public opposition, despite the US Department of State’s official endorsement of the UK’s plan. Meanwhile, many Chagossians regard the transfer agreement as a betrayal since it diminishes the chances of their eventual return to the islands under UK sovereignty. Domestically, political opposition to the deal remains strong, with parties such as the Conservatives and Reform UK expressing firm resistance to relinquishing control of the archipelago
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