Trump has right to consider deal over Chagos Islands, says Downing Street
ReutersDowning Street says Britain’s plan to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius should be considered by incoming US President Donald Trump before being implemented.
The BBC understands that efforts have been made to sign the treaty before President-elect Trump takes office on Monday, and the Mauritian cabinet is expected to approve the proposal on Wednesday.
Britain plans to hand over sovereignty over the Indian Ocean archipelago but retain a 99-year lease on a joint British-American military air base on Diego Garcia, the largest island.
A spokesman for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said it was “completely reasonable” for the US government to consider the details of any deal.
Shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel said the latest developments were “completely humiliating” for the Prime Minister as Labor was “desperate to sign off on the surrender of the Chagos Islands before President Trump returns to office”.
The deal drew criticism from other British politicians as well as incoming US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said it posed a “serious threat” to US security Give these islands to countries allied with China.
Trump has not commented publicly on the deal. However, Reform Party leader Nigel Farage, a Trump ally, told BBC Newsnight last year that the deal would damage Sir Keir’s relationship with the US president-elect.
Speaking at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir defended the deal, saying negotiations had begun under the previous Conservative government and insisting it was the best way to protect military bases.
There were reports that Mauritian Prime Minister Naveen Ramgoolam would sign an agreement while attending a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, but later announced that his attorney general would travel to London to continue negotiations.
In 1965, Britain took control of the Chagos Islands, or British Indian Ocean Territory, from the then colony of Mauritius and expelled more than 1,000 locals to make way for the Diego Garcia base.
Mauritius, which gained independence from Britain in 1968, insists the islands belong to it, and the United Nations’ top court ruled in an advisory opinion that Britain’s administration of the territory was “illegal”.
Conservative leader Kemi Badenock said the prime minister was “negotiating a secret deal to hand over British territory and the taxpayers of this country will pay for this disgrace”.
Badenock said “we should never give up British territory in Chagos” and claimed Sir Keir had “rushed into a deal that will be disastrous” and cost the British taxpayer billions of pounds. .
The cost of the proposed UK deal has not yet been officially announced.
Responding to Badenoch, Sir Keir told PMQs the planned deal would ensure the military base on Diego Garcia can continue to operate effectively.
Chagos Islands Agreement First announced in October After years of negotiations.
But weeks later, after his election, Mr. Ramgoolam said he had reservations about the draft treaty and called for an independent review.
In a joint statement in October, Mauritius and Britain said the agreement would “address past mistakes and demonstrate both parties’ commitment to supporting the welfare of the Chagossians”.
Chagossian islanders – some living in Mauritius and the Seychelles, but others in Crawley, Sussex – do not have a unified voice about the fate of their homeland.
Some criticized the deal, saying they were not consulted during the negotiations.
Under the proposed deal, Mauritius would be able to start a resettlement program in the Chagos Islands, but not Diego Garcia.
British Foreign Secretary David Lamy has previously played down the criticism, saying it was a “very good deal” for “our national security” because it secured the legal basis for the Diego Garcia military base.
