US President-elect Donald Trump will be consulted on the UK’s deal to hand over the Chagos Islands, where there is a joint US-UK military base, to Mauritius.
The UK announced in October it would cede sovereignty of the archipelago in the Indian Ocean, but maintain control of the base on the largest island Diego Garcia under a 99-year lease.
Efforts to get the treaty signed before Trump’s inauguration on Monday had been made, the BBC understands, and it had been expected the Mauritian cabinet would approve the deal on Wednesday.
The deal had already been greenlit by the Biden administration but the UK prime minister’s office on Wednesday said the incoming Trump government would now “consider” the deal.
US President-elect Donald Trump will be consulted on the UK’s deal to hand over the Chagos Islands, where there is a joint US-UK military base, to Mauritius.
The UK announced in October it would cede sovereignty of the archipelago in the Indian Ocean, but maintain control of the base on the largest island Diego Garcia under a 99-year lease.
Efforts to get the treaty signed before Trump’s inauguration on Monday had been made, the BBC understands, and it had been expected the Mauritian cabinet would approve the deal on Wednesday.
The deal had already been greenlit by the Biden administration but the UK prime minister’s office on Wednesday said the incoming Trump government would now “consider” the deal.
A deal over the Chagos Islands was first announced in October following years of negotiations.
But weeks later, after his election, Mr Ramgoolam said he had reservations about the draft treaty and asked for an independent review.
In a joint statement in October, Mauritius and the UK said the deal would “address wrongs of the past and demonstrate the commitment of both parties to support the welfare of Chagossians”.
The Chagos islanders – some in Mauritius and the Seychelles, but others living in Crawley in Sussex – do not speak with one voice on the fate of their homeland.
Some have criticised the deal, saying they were not consulted in the negotiations.
Under the proposed deal, Mauritius will be able to begin a programme of resettlement on the Chagos Islands, but not on Diego Garcia.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has previously played down the criticism, saying it is a “very good deal” for “our national security” because it secured the legal basis of the Diego Garcia military base.
On Wednesday, diplomats said the decision to put the deal on hold until it was considered by the Trump administration made sense as the UK would not want its first engagement to be a row over islands deep in the Indian Ocean.
The Biden administration and US military and intelligence agencies had agreed to the original deal, accepting it put the legal status of the Diego Garcia on a more stable footing.
But there were still questions within the US system about how much the new agreement might open the way for China to establish a strategic foothold in the islands.
It is unclear how incoming president Trump will act, what advice he might get in office and whether he would have time to consider an issue seen as second-order compared to the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
By BBC News
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