UK suspends plan to transfer sovereignty of Chagos Islands after US opposition

The British government reported this Saturday (11) that it had put on hold the agreement to cede the archipelago, where the Diego Garcia military air base is located, operated jointly by the British and Americans. The initiative had been criticized by US President Donald Trump. According to the newspaper “The Times”, the proposed law that would support the agreement — which provides for the transfer of the islands to Mauritius — will not be included in the next parliamentary agenda. The plan depends on support from Washington. Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s office said London would try to convince the United States to grant formal approval to the deal. In February, Trump called the plan “a big mistake.” He had previously said it was the best deal Starmer would get. Under the negotiated terms, the United Kingdom would maintain control of the strategic base in Diego Garcia through a 99-year lease, guaranteeing the continuity of American military operations there. A British government spokesman said the long-term operational security of the base would remain a priority. “We continue to believe that the agreement is the best way to protect the future of the base, but we have always said that we would only move forward if there was support from the United States. We continue in dialogue with the US and Mauritius,” he said. The United Kingdom forcibly removed up to 2,000 Chagossians — the islands’ native population — between the late 1960s and the 1970s to set up a military base on the Diego Garcia atoll. Toby Noskwith, spokesman for the group Indigenous Chagossian People, said there was resistance to the agreement within the Trump administration from the beginning. “We are surprised that we have reached this point. The issue was treated mainly as an issue between States, but those who ended up left aside were the Chagossians, especially the oldest and survivors”, he said. He also questioned “the enormous amounts spent on a negotiation that failed” and the legality of a plan that, according to him, denied the Chagossians the right to self-determination. Noskwith also defended that Starmer facilitates the dignified resettlement of the population. The relationship between Washington and London has faced tensions in recent weeks. Attrition intensified after Starmer’s refusal to get directly involved in the war between the United States and Israel against Iran and to allow, at the beginning of the conflict, the use of British bases for attacks. Subsequently, American forces began to carry out what the prime minister classified as defensive actions. Trump also made recurring criticisms of Starmer, stating that the Briton “is not Winston Churchill” and that he would have harmed the so-called “special relationship” between the two countries.

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