UK agrees to give sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius

The United Kingdom has decided to give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The deal will also guarantee that the important Diego Garcia U.S. military base will remain for the coming future. The U.S. base will be guaranteed operation for the next 99 years. The base helps prevent the Indian Ocean from “being used as a dangerous illegal migration route to the UK.“ Islanders that were displaced for the past five decades will also now be able to return to the islands. The UK has maintained control over the region since 1814. It evicted around 1,500 residents of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in the early 1970s. The eviction of these residents made space for the U.S. airbase, which the International Court of Justice ruled was wrongful in 2019.