PREVIEW
British officials say their 99-year base lease cannot proceed without US backing – reopening negotiations with Mauritius on the sovereignty deal
Britain’s contentious agreement with Mauritius under which London would pay £3.4 billion (US$4.5bn) for a 99-year lease to retain control of the Diego Garcia air base in the Chagos Island archipelago, is dead in the water.
Amid criticism from United States President Donald J Trump, Britain’s Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said ‘this deal as it is currently constituted can’t go ahead without American support. So we have to get a deal to a place where it commands American support as well as the agreement of the government of Mauritius and our government.’
The first annual payments to Mauritius under the deal, which start at £120 million, are on hold. Re-opening the agreement will be difficult. Former Defence Secretary John Healey, who is now Chancellor of the Exchequer in Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s government, told the House of Commons in 2025 that several rulings by the UN stating Mauritius’ sovereignty over the islands had forced their hand.
‘Without this deal, within weeks, we could face losing legal rulings and within just a few years the base would become inoperable,’ he told MPs (Dispatches, 27/5/25, Starmer puts legal spin on Chagos Islands deal).
Getting a new agreement will require sign off from the Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam and Trump. It would also need safeguards against the risks of a legal challenge from the several thousand Chagossians who were forcibly removed from the islands in the 1960s.
Trump initially supported the Chagos deal before describing it as a ‘big mistake’ that would encourage China to deepen its diplomatic ties with Mauritius (AC Vol 67 No 12, Cheque book diplomacy). Following his meeting with Trump in Washington last week, Prime Minister Burnham said that he had ‘inherited the situation and we need a resolution’.
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