More than sixty years after independence Jackie Mulhallen finds the British state is more supportive of the US military rather than the dispossessed islanders

A delegation of Chagossian refugees is visiting Britain to urge Parliament to complete the handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. This transaction, whilst going through Parliament earlier in the year, was never completed due, it was said, to having run out of parliamentary time. However, there was no mention of completing it in the King’s Speech at the opening of Parliament in May.

Under British colonial rule, the Chagos Islands, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, were administered with Mauritius, and in fact Mauritius had responsibility for them. However, when Mauritius gained independence in 1965, the British government separated the Chagos Islands, now called British Indian Ocean Territory, and continued to control them. In 1971 a US/UK military base was built on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands, and the British removed the population living there without their consent and resettled them, mainly in Mauritius, although some settled in the Seychelles and some came to Britain.

The shock of this removal was so great that it literally killed many elderly people and caused many pregnant women to lose their babies. The Chagossians, who had lived contentedly on Diego Garcia, now lived in poverty and with unemployment. However, they have been campaigning over many years for their rights and for Britain to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

In 2019 the International Court of Justice ruled that the removal of the Chagossians had been unlawful and that Britain should end its administration of the Chagos Archipelago. Negotiations began between Mauritius and the British government. Keir Starmer said that were Mauritius to pursue legal action, Britain would have no chance of success.

It was agreed in October 2024 that Britain was to hand the islands over to Mauritius. Britain was to lease back the Diego Garcia base, initially for 99 years, and also to provide a trust fund for the displaced Chagossians, The US had been using the US/UK Diego Garcia base during the wars on Afghanistan and Iraq and it is a convenient base for the US to attack the Middle East. Because of the base, the consent of the US is required to ratify the treaty that was agreed between Mauritius and the British government in 22 May 2025.

Initially, Trump appeared in favour of the treaty but in January 2026, he described it as ‘an act of great stupidity’. As he is opposed to the treaty, which was already being discussed in the British Parliament, the process was stalled. It appears that there are no plans for the discussion to continue and that Britain will continue to await US approval. Of course, meanwhile the US/ Iran war started in February 2026.

Tory leader, Kemi Badenoch, is against the treaty, claiming that it is too expensive when so many people in Britain are dealing with the cost of living crisis. Reform’s Nigel Farage is also against it and is supporting some Chagossians who would like to return to the islands now. However, because of the Diego Garcia base this is not possible for security reasons, something Farage must know.

The Diego Garcia base is valuable to the US when it wishes to make war in the Middle East. Although Britain would lease the base, and therefore the US would be able to continue to use it, it appears that the idea of Mauritius having control of the islands is a worry for Trump.

The whole transaction is left up in the air with Chagossians still left, after over 50 years of campaigning and so very near success, without any recompense after their illegal and cruel racist removal from their home.