As the clock ticks down on a historic deal to transfer the disputed Chagos Islands from British to Mauritian control, eleventh-hour wrangling over lease terms for the strategically vital US military base on Diego Garcia threatens to derail the long-awaited accord. The Indian Ocean archipelago has been a geopolitical football for decades, but a breakthrough sovereignty handover agreement reached in October now hangs in the balance.
Sticking Point: Compensation for Diego Garcia
At the heart of the impasse is Mauritius’ dissatisfaction with the amount Britain has agreed to pay for a 99-year extension of its lease on Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands and site of a joint UK-US military facility that has played a key role in conflicts from Vietnam to Afghanistan and Iraq. Britain, which retained possession of the islands after Mauritius gained independence in 1968, has offered an undisclosed sum to secure long-term access to the base.
But Mauritius’ newly elected government, which took power last month, is driving a harder bargain than its predecessor. “They are nitpicking about the compensation to be granted to Mauritius when for 60 years, they have illegally used our Chagos and our Diego Garcia,” Deputy Prime Minister Paul Bérenger said over the weekend. “We will continue to negotiate.”
US Ratchets Up Pressure as Trump Looms
The stakes are high for Washington, which sees the Diego Garcia base as a vital launchpad for military operations in the Middle East and Indian Ocean. Keen to ink a deal before Donald Trump – whose allies have slammed the handover – takes office on January 20, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held urgent talks with Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam this week in a bid to salvage the pact.
“I made him understand that we do not agree with certain things contained in the agreement concluded on 3 October by the former Mauritian prime minister,” Ramgoolam told MPs after the call, “and informed him that we have made a counter-proposal.” UK National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell has also been shuttling between Port Louis and Washington in a diplomatic full-court press.
Colonial Legacy, Indigenous Tragedy
The contested islands have a troubled history. In the 1960s and 70s, Britain forcibly expelled some 2,000 Chagossians to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for the US base, in a saga that has sparked legal battles ever since. Mauritius, which claims sovereignty over the archipelago, has fought for years to secure its return.
The Chagossians’ plight remains a highly emotive issue in Mauritius, with many calling for their right of return and compensation over their forced displacement.
Final Hurdle or Dealbreaker?
Whether the lease terms prove a temporary snag or an insurmountable roadblock remains to be seen. Much may depend on the scale of Mauritius’ demands and the leeway for compromise in the compressed negotiating window. For both the UK and US, the imperative to seal an agreement and provide continuity for the Diego Garcia base looms large.
As the diplomatic wrangling intensifies in the deal’s final days, the long-running controversy over the Chagos Islands approaches a critical crossroads, one with profound implications for the archipelago’s indigenous people, Mauritius’ national aspirations, and the future of a key Western military asset in the Indo-Pacific. The coming weeks will determine whether the sun finally sets on Britain’s last colonial holdout in the region, or the standoff drags on into a new and unpredictable geopolitical era.
