At Long Last! A Deal for the Chagos Islands

This is an historic day for the Chagos Islands.

After battles through the courts, pressure on the international stage, and years of negotiations, there is a breakthrough. The UK will now hand sovereignty of the islands over to nearby Mauritius.

The exact details will become clearer in due course but readers of this newsletter will be aware that one of the main sticking points has been the existence of a U.S.-UK military base on the main island, Diego Garcia.

That base will remain as a key, strategic bulwark against Chinese expansion in the Indian Ocean but the other islands of the archipelago will be able to be resettled in due course.

Returning control of the Chagos Islands has not gone without criticism. The former minister, Grant Shapps, described the move as “appalling” and “a weak and deeply regrettable act from this government” despite the fact that it was his Conservative Party that set this process in motion. In fact, those negotiations were initiated by James Cleverly who, in a puzzling move, condemned the deal as “[w]eak, weak, weak!”

There are, admittedly, some worries surrounding Britain losing sovereignty and a key aspect of our national security program by handing over the islands. However, upon closer inspection these views tend to be more closely tied to old-fashioned ideas about the empire and happily ignore the plight of the Chagossian people. Worries that the Falkland Islands will be next demonstrates a lack of understanding when it comes to the geopolitical context of the territory.

There are other, more legitimate concerns about the deal that has been struck between the UK and Mauritius.

Frankie Bontemps, one of many Chagossians who now lives in the UK, told the BBC that he was disappointed that his people had not been involved in this process whatsoever. Instead, the deal has been thrust upon them as a fait accompli.

Why should the islands be passed from one country to another instead of being given the chance to strike out on their own as an independent nation?

The truth is that Mauritius does have the best and most legitimate claim to the islands. The Chagos Islands were a part of Mauritius right up until they were sold to the UK for £3 million in 1965. Furthermore, there is a convincing argument that Mauritius were forced into selling the islands at that time.

In a perfect world, the Chagos Islands would be granted complete independence and a right to self-determination. This would allow them to make their own decisions about the future of their country but that diaspora is spread out across the globe and does not currently have a coherent organisation that could form a government.

Nevertheless, Chagossians are right to be sceptical of the Mauritian government who appear to be forcibly depopulating one of their own islands to make way for an Indian military base.

It has already been said that the treaty that will eventually be signed by the parties will include financial support from the UK to help with infrastructure investment and resettlement but if it does not envision a future independence for the Chagos Islands then that will be a significant failure.

There is clearly still a long way to go before the Chagossian people can feel that they have achieved justice but that should not take away from the major progress that today’s announcement represents.