BRITAIN has secured an agreement with Mauritius to give sovereignty of the Chagos Islands in exchange for the continued use of a joint military base with the US.

Negotiations over sovereignty began in 2022 after the International Court of Justice, the United Nations general assembly and the International Tribunal of the Law of Seas found that Britain unlawfully separated the archipelago of more than 60 islands before granting Mauritius independence.

In a statement today, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “Today’s agreement secures this vital military base for the future.

“It will strengthen our role in safeguarding global security, shut down any possibility of the Indian Ocean being used as a dangerous illegal migration route to the UK, as well as guaranteeing our long-term relationship with Mauritius, a close Commonwealth partner.”

The US-UK base will remain on Diego Garcia for “an initial period” of 99 years under the deal, which is still subject to the finalisation of a treaty.

Thousands of Chagossians were forcibly removed from the entire archipelago in the 1960s and ’80s by Britain, and now live in Mauritius, Seychelles and Crawley in Sussex.

Human Rights Watch senior legal adviser Clive Baldwin said that while the agreement says it will address the wrongs against the Chagossians of the past, “it looks like it will continue the crimes long into the future.”

He told the Star: “It does not guarantee that the Chagossians will return to their homeland, bans them from the largest island, Diego Garcia, for another century and does not mention the reparations they are allowed to rebuild their future.

“The forthcoming treaty needs to address their rights, and there should be meaningful consultations with the Chagossians, otherwise the UK, US and now Mauritius will be responsible for a still-ongoing colonial crime.”

Chagossian Voices said it “deplores the exclusion” of the Chagossian community from the negotiations.

The group said in a statement: “Chagossians have learned this outcome from the media and remain powerless and voiceless in determining our own future and the future of our homeland.

“The views of Chaggossians, and indigenous inhabitants of the islands, have been consistently and deliberately ignored and we demand full inclusion in the drafting of the treaty.”

Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn said he was “pleased about the sovereignty but not surprised at the continuation of the base.”

Peter Lamb, Labour MP for Crawley, wrote on X: “The decision over the future of the islands belongs [to] the Chagossian people, it’s not for the UK to bargain away.”