The Case of the Chagos Archipelago

Hello everyone,

The association is getting back to you this week following the announcement made by the United Kingdom these days of the retrocession of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius, which has been constantly claiming sovereignty over these lands for nearly 60 years (see Mauritius: the United Kingdom returns the Chagos Archipelago, the American base is maintained ). The Chagos Archipelago, until now a British Overseas Territory (BIOT), will thus enter history in 2025 as the last British colony in Africa.

Discovered by the Portuguese, then colonized successively by the French and finally the British, the archipelago, which until then was part of Mauritius, will be kept under English rule upon the latter’s independence ; a very common practice among former colonizing powers who, upon independence, decide to keep a piece of the former colonized territory. Similar to what France did with the Scattered Islands during the independence of Madagascar, with Mayotte for the Comoros, which have continued to demand the reintegration of these territories ever since, and perhaps soon in New Caledonia in view of the partition project proposed by loyalists, some of whom believe it comes from the State itself.

Having thus preserved this archipelago, the British decided in the 20th century to lease it to the American armed forces in order to monitor and intervene in the Middle East and Central Asia. The latter built a base on the main island of Diego Garcia, hosting, among other things, nuclear stealth bombers and submarines.

The few thousand inhabitants who resided on the island were unwillingly displaced, some to Mauritius and others to England. Since then, they have continued to demand justice and the opportunity to return to live on their land.

In 1998, the inhabitants began a series of appeals to the British courts, which in 2008 dismissed all their claims (see Chagos Archipelago – Wikipedia ). In 2017, the UN referred the matter to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) , as did Mauritius in 2018 , and in 2019 obtained in an advisory opinion issued by the latter a decision according to which the United Kingdom had unlawfully separated the Chagos from Mauritius after its independence in 1968. The countries of the South strongly support Mauritius, while the United Kingdom’s allies, such as France, Australia and the United States, are united behind the colonial power.

On May 22, 2019, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding the return of the archipelago to Mauritius within 6 months and published a new one in 2020 in which the archipelago belongs to Mauritius. The resolution is unfortunately non-binding, and the United Kingdom does not comply with it , nor with the opinion to the same effect of the ICJ. In the same year, Mauritius announced its intention to file a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the United Kingdom for crimes against humanity.

In 2023, the British government agreed to open negotiations that would lead to an agreement on May 22, 2025, to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius . However, the main Chagos island, Diego Garcia, was returned via a 99-year emphyteutic lease to England to allow it to complete the lease granted to the Americans. In return, the British state would have to pay Mauritius £120 to £165 million per year until the end of the lease. Thus, the main habitable island, the source of the claims of these inhabitants, remains with the colonial power and its allies. The money going back to Mauritius, which now finds itself having to manage the Maldives’ claims to part of the archipelago, believing that it is in reality closer to the Maldives than to Mauritius (see Maldives demands that the Chagos Islands be handed over to Malé | Defimedia ), once again rediscovering a practice of the former colonial powers consisting, once gone, of setting neighbouring countries against each other. The example of India and Pakistan are the most striking examples of this, on the British side.

Although they celebrated the announcement of the British departure from their archipelago, the inhabitants of the Chagos may quickly become disenchanted when they read the actual content of the agreement. It is not certain that they will see the color of the pounds sterling promised by the United Kingdom. On the other hand, with sovereignty over the surrounding islands and this new maritime space, Mauritius has a guarantee of being paid under penalty of authorizing the Chinese authorities to navigate in its waters and near Anglo-American infrastructures, which the Americans will not accept (see Trump’s election gives hope to opponents of the agreement on the Chagos Islands ) who have also tried to make this agreement fail.

Wishing you a good read and reminding you that federalism turns out to be the solution.

The APROFED association