Ceding the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is meant to keep the Diego Garcia military base, London has said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Britain ceded its last African colony as the only way to retain control over a key Indian Ocean military base, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Labour government announced last week that it would hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending a decades-long dispute over the archipelago. The largest island in the group, Diego Garcia, was turned over to the US in 1966 and its 2,000 inhabitants deported elsewhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a victory for diplomacy. We saved the base, it has been secured for the long term,\u201d Lammy told Parliament on Monday, responding to opposition accusations that the deal gave up Diego Garcia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s critical for our national security. Without security of tenure there will be no base. The deal benefits us, the UK, the US and Mauritius,\u201d Lammy added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also noted that the US supported the deal with Mauritius and that something had to be done before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a binding ruling against the UK that would have put Diego Garcia\u2019s future at risk. In a 2019 advisory opinion, the ICJ told London to cede the islands to Port Louis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The UK and Mauritius announced last week they would sign a treaty ensuring \u201cthe long-term, secure and effective operation of the existing base on Diego Garcia which plays a vital role in regional and global security.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to Lammy, this would include retaining control of the base for 99 years in exchange for recognizing Mauritian sovereignty over the island itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve just handed sovereign British territory to a small island nation which is an ally of China, and we are paying for the privilege, all so the foreign secretary can feel good about himself at his next north London dinner party,\u201d former Tory immigration minister Robert Jenrick said, accusing Lammy of working in the interests of \u201cthe global diplomatic elite.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Chagos announcement prompted Argentina to remind the UK of its claim to the Falkland Islands, an archipelago in the South Atlantic the two countries fought a war over in 1982.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe will recover full sovereignty over our Malvinas,\u201d Argentine Foreign Minister Diana Mondino announced on X, using the Argentine name for the islands. \u201cThe Malvinas were, are, and will always be Argentine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, Lammy insisted that no such thing would be happening. \u201cBritish sovereignty on the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and the sovereign base areas is not up for negotiation,\u201d he told parliament on Monday. \u201cThe situations are not comparable.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The foreign secretary also argued that the deal with Mauritius addresses the \u201cdeeply wrong\u201d way in which their native population was \u201cforcibly removed.\u201d Meanwhile, some of the Chagossians currently living in the UK protested in London because they were not consulted about the deal at all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n