UK Hands Over Chagos Island to Mauritius After 60 Yrs, Mauritian PM Thanks India for Support

Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Jugnauth thanked the Indian government, Prime Minister Modi, and the African Union after Britain handed over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

In a post on X, Jugnauth said, “Mauritius thanks the African Union @AfricanUnion, the Government of India @narendramodi and all friendly countries which have supported us in our fight for completing our decolonisation.”

The UK has announced that it has ended a 60-year-old sovereignty dispute with Mauritius over ownership of the Chagos islands. As per a deal announced on Friday, the UK will hand over rights of British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) named Chagos archipelago to Mauritius. But Britain will retain full control over the Diego Garcia a military base on the southern-most island of the archipelago.

The US and UK operate military assets out of Diego Garcia, located some 1,800 km south-west of Kerala.

Indian warships and military planes can refuel and restock supplies at the Diego Garcia base as India and US have an agreement to seamlessly share logistics.