The UK will hand over sovereignty of the remote Chagos Islands to Mauritius after a decades-long dispute.
The deal to transfer the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius includes the tropical atoll of Diego Garcia, home to a military base used by the UK and the US that plays a crucial role in the region’s stability and international security.
Under the agreement, the base will remain under UK and US jurisdiction for at least the next 99 years.
The UK government said the treaty would “address wrongs of the past and demonstrate the commitment of both parties to support the welfare” of Chagossians – the native people of the islands.
US President Joe Biden welcomed the move, saying it was “mutually beneficial”, while Secretary of State Antony Blinken hailed it as a “win for diplomacy”.
Several leading Conservatives have called the decision “weak”, with former security minister Tom Tugendhat saying it is a “shameful retreat undermining our security and leaving our allies exposed”.
Concerns have been raised a future Mauritian government will not adhere to the agreement and will allow China, which is heavily invested in Mauritius, to take over the base.
Image: Map: OpenStreetMap
Package of financial support
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A statement from the Mauritian and UK governments said Mauritius is now “free to implement a programme of resettlement” on the islands, other than Diego Garcia, and the UK will provide money and other support to Chagossians who had to leave.
The UK will also provide a “package of financial support” to Mauritius, including annual payments for the next 99 years and will provide funding for an infrastructure partnership.
Addressing the people of Mauritius, Pravind Jugnauth, the prime minister, said: “There are some people who thought that it might have been impossible for a small country like Mauritius to have achieved justice against superpowers.
“Despite all this – we remained true to our convictions to end colonisation in our country.
“Today, 56 years after our independence, our decolonisation is complete.”
Speaking to Sky News, foreign minister Maneesh Gobin also said the deal marked a “historic day” that was good for two “sovereign nations”.
On the question of China’s influence, the foreign minister said it was “unfortunate” that the country kept coming up in the discussion of the Chagos Islands.
Foreign Secretary David Lammy said: “This government inherited a situation where the long-term, secure operation of the Diego Garcia military base was under threat, with contested sovereignty and ongoing legal challenges.
“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.”
History of the Chagos Islands
The Chagos Islands had been home to the Chagossians from the 1700s, brought as slaves from Africa and India by the French.
The islands had been a dependency of Mauritius when it was a French colony, but the UK claimed the Chagos Islands as part of Mauritius in the early 19th Century.
Mauritius gained independence from the UK in 1968 and since then has been trying to claim the Chagos archipelago as Mauritian.
In the late 1960s, the US asked the UK to expel everyone from the archipelago so they could build a naval support facility on the largest island, Diego Garcia. It is leased to the US but operates as a joint UK-US base.
Since 1971, only US military employees have been allowed access. Chagossians living on the island, and other islands, were removed to Mauritius or the Seychelles. The expulsions are regarded as one of the most shameful parts of Britain’s modern colonial history and Chagossians have spent decades fighting to return.
In 2010, Mauritius started proceedings against the UK to challenge the legality of the archipelago, and compensation and repatriation of former inhabitants. Mauritius took it to the International Court of Justice in 2018.
The UK government has offered British Overseas Territories Citizenship to Chagossians since 2002, with about 3,500 becoming citizens – most living in Crawley, West Sussex, near Gatwick Airport.
Since 2021, about 89 Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers have arrived on Diego Garcia but the UK government has argued the refugee convention does not apply there so they remain in limbo in a makeshift refugee camp.
Mauritius has repeatedly stated the Chagos archipelago is part of its territory and the United Kingdom claim is a violation of United Nations resolutions banning the dismemberment of colonial territories before independence.
In 2019, the UN General Assembly said the Chagos Islands “forms an integral part of the territory of Mauritius”, although it was not legally binding.
In November 2022, then British foreign secretary James Cleverly announced the UK and Mauritius had started sovereignty negotiations with Mauritius.
In December 2023, when David Cameron was foreign secretary, the talks were discontinued after a paper by three legal academics said transferring the islands would be a “major self-inflected blow” for the UK.
The Labour government picked the talks back up and have now agreed to give the islands back to Mauritius, while the US and UK keep the military base.
Image: Fuel tanks at the edge of a military airstrip on Diego Garcia. File pic: Reuters
‘Through diplomacy, countries can overcome challenges’
The US president welcomed the move, saying: “I applaud the historic agreement.
“It is a clear demonstration that through diplomacy and partnership, countries can overcome long-standing historical challenges to reach peaceful and mutually beneficial outcomes.”
The agreement is subject to the finalisation of a treaty and supporting legal instruments, with both Mauritius and the UK committing to complete “as quickly as possible”.
Former foreign secretary James Cleverly accused the government of being “weak, weak, weak”.
He said: “Labour lied to get into office. Said they’d be whiter than white, said they wouldn’t put up taxes, said they’d stand up to the EU, said that they’d be patriotic. All lies!”
‘A strategic disaster’
Mr Tugendhat said the Foreign Office had “negotiated against Britain’s interest” and it was “disgraceful that these negotiations started under our watch” – in a dig at Mr Cleverly who was foreign secretary when negotiations began in 2022.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said “giving up the Chagos Islands is a strategic disaster” and claimed the US “will be furious and Beijing delighted”.
“Labour are making the world a more dangerous place,” he said.
The government is warning people not to travel to Israel under any circumstances, as the country’s missile exchange with Iran shows no sign of abating.
On Friday, the Foreign Office warned against “all but essential travel” to most of Israel.
The areas around Gaza, the West Bank and the Golan Heights were already classed as red zones, with warnings to avoid travel to these areas.
But the government has now updated the warning for the remainder of the country to red.
This puts Israel on the same level as Iran, and the change of advice is also likely to impact travel insurance.
However, with Israel’s airspace closed, it is unlikely many people will be attempting the journey, and Israel’s national airline El Al has announced it is cancelling flights to and from many European cities, as well as Tokyo and Moscow, until 23 June.
The change in travel advice comes after a second night of ballistic missile barrages from Iran following Israel’s attack in the early hours of Friday morning.
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An eight-storey residential building in Tel Aviv was hit by a missile last night.
On Sunday morning, Israel’s health ministry said 12 people had been killed over the past day, taking the total since Friday to 15. It also said 385 people had arrived at hospital with injuries overnight.
Iran has not provided a total number of deaths or overall casualties, but has claimed dozens have been killed.
Iran’s health minister has said most of those injured and killed in Israeli strikes were civilians. According to comments carried by news agency IRNA, he said the majority were women and children.
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The chancellor said UK forces could “potentially” be used to help defend Israel.
The UK government is sending military assets, including fighter jets, to the Middle East.
While the prime minister would not confirm to reporters that UK forces could be used to defend Israel from future Iranian attacks, the chancellor told Sky News earlier that the government is “not ruling anything out”.
Speaking to Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips, Rachel Reeves said sending military assets to the Middle East “does not mean that we are at war”, and emphasised that “we have not been involved in these strikes or this conflict”.
“But we do have important assets in the region,” she continued. “And it is right that we send jets to protect them. And that’s what we’ve done. It’s a precautionary move, and at the same time, we are urging de-escalation.”
Pushed on the question of what the UK would do if Israel asked for support with its operations, the chancellor replied: “I’m not going to rule anything out at this stage. It’s a fast-moving situation, a very volatile situation. But we don’t want to see escalation.”
A helicopter carrying Hindu pilgrims has crashed in India, killing seven people on board.
The accident happened within minutes of the helicopter taking off, officials said, on what should have been a 10-minute flight.
The helicopter was flying to Guptkashi, a prominent Hindu pilgrimage site in the Himalayas, from Kedarnath temple town in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.
It comes three days after an Air India flight crashed less than a minute after taking off from Ahmedabad airport in northwestern India, killing at least 270 people.
The helicopter, which was operated by private helicopter service Aryan Aviation, went down in a forested area several miles from the Kedarnath pilgrimage route at around 5.30am local time.
Officials said the crash was believed to have been caused by poor weather conditions.
Authorities say they have launched a search and rescue operation and are expected to review operational protocols for flights in the region.
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The dead include the pilot and pilgrims from the neighbouring state of Uttar Pradesh and western states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, according to officials. The bodies were badly burned in a fire that followed the crash, they said.
Image: Smoke and debris at the site. Pic: Reuters
Tens of thousands of pilgrims visit Kedarnath, which is home to one of the four most sacred Hindu temple shrines, each summer. Many use helicopter services due to the difficult mountainous terrain.
Helicopter mishaps are not uncommon in the region, where sudden weather changes and high-altitude flying conditions can pose risks.
Earlier this month, a helicopter operating in the Kedarnath Valley made an emergency landing shortly after taking off on a highway due to a technical fault. The pilot was injured but all five passengers on board were unharmed.
In May, a helicopter crashed in Uttarkashi district, killing six people, including the pilot. One person survived.
An Irish politician who was detained in Egypt trying to cross into Gaza says the police were violent towards the group after seizing his phone.
People Before Profit-Solidarity TD (MP) Paul Murphy was part of a large demonstration attempting to march to the Rafah crossing in a bid to get aid into the region.
The opposition politician said his phone and passport were confiscated on Friday before he was put on a bus to Cairo airport for deportation.
Footage of the seconds before his phone was seized shows authorities forcibly dragging protesters away from the sit-down demonstration.
Ireland’s deputy premier said several Irish citizens who were detained have now been released. Mr Murphy confirmed he was among the released protesters, posting a photo on his Facebook page saying he was back in Cairo and “meeting shortly to decide next steps”.
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In a message from Mr Murphy after he was detained, posted online by his social media team, he said: “I’m ok, but they still have my phone.
“Egyptian police say we’re going to airport but this isn’t the road we came on because there are 1000s of marchers on the streets. They’re taking us south past a lake, then west towards Cairo.
“Violence got worse after they seized my phone.
“One American woman in my group was badly kicked & beaten, and had her hijab torn off.”
Sky News has contacted Egypt’s police regarding Mr Murphy’s claims of violence towards the group.
Mr Murphy previously said other Irish citizen were among those who had been stopped from entering Gaza.
“The world has watched a horrific genocide for the past 20 months. Since March, a total attempt of starvation,” he added.
“And that this is a peaceful march to demand that it be ended and demand that western governments stop their complicity.”
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Mr Murphy’s partner, Councillor Jess Spear, had previously appealed to Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister and deputy premier Simon Harris to make a public statement on Mr Murphy’s detention.
She expressed “relief” that the group had been released from detention.
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The deadly road to Gaza aid point
She said: “However, they still want to reach Rafah to try and get humanitarian aid into Gaza. That has been the sole purpose of being in Egypt.
“Paul has appealed to Tanaiste Simon Harris to put pressure on the Egyptian authorities to let the marchers reach Rafah. The situation of the people of Gaza worsens by the day as they suffer starvation imposed by Israel.”