The UK has given up a top secret island to Mauritius after years of arguments and negotiations.
The Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean has been strictly out of bounds since 1973 when the UK and US took over the island to use as a military base.
The islands have been shrouded in secrecy ever since Chagossians were forced to leave, in what has been considered the most shameful part of modern colonial British history.
This includes the tropical ring island of Diego Garcia, which is home to navy ships and long-range bomber aircrafts and sits on the list of the world’s most remote pieces of land.
There are no commercial flights and permits for boats are only granted for the outer islands.
Only people with connects to the military facility are granted access, and journalists have always been barred from gaining access.
Rumours have also circulated Diego Garcia was used as a CIA black-site – a facility used to interrogate terror suspects.
Chagossians who have spent decades fighting for the right to their land back have finally been successful.
But the BBC reports cinemas, bowling alleys and even a gift shop have all been built on the island to go alongside the military base.
The Foreign Office said the agreement means the status of the military base will be undisputed and legally secure.
But the Diego Garcia has seen a small number of migrants arrived and launch asylum claims since 2021.
Migrants have been stranded on the island for three years, and complex legal battles are being held to rule whether they have unlawfully detained.
Why have the Chagos Islands been handed to Mauritius?
For a tiny group of atolls comprising just over 20 square miles of land in the Indian Ocean, the Chagos Islands have a long and contentious history.
The first inhabitants were slaves brought over by the French in the 18th century, and the territory was handed over by France to the British as part of Mauritius in 1814.
From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, the Chagossians were forced to leave their homes to make way for a US military base on the island of Diego Garcia.
Since then, there have been several court battles between former residents of the archipelago and the British government, who refused to let them return.
While Mauritius has never controlled the Chagos Islands as a sovereign state - it only gained independence in 1968, when the UK kept control of the atolls - the country has claimed them as its territory.
Despite anger from the Conservatives over yesterday's announcement, the negotiations to hand Mauritius control of the islands began while the Tories were in government.
But it's unclear who precisely started the process after former PMs and foreign secretaries pointed their fingers at each other.
James Cleverly criticised the deal as 'weak, weak, weak' yesterday, before it emerged he had initiated talks when he led the Foreign Office.
However, his team placed the blame at the feet of Liz Truss, saying she had asked him to begin negotiations during her brief spell as Prime Minister.
But Truss's spokesman fired back by accusing then-PM Boris Johnson of telling her to raise the issue with the Mauritian leader at COP26 while she was foreign secretary, adding she was 'absolutely clear that we would and should never cede the territory'.
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.’
A Downing Street spokesman said Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer spoke to his Mauritius counterpart, Pravind Jugnauth, on Thursday morning.
The spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister reiterated the importance of reaching this deal to protect the continued operation of the UK/US military base on Diego Garcia.
‘He underscored his steadfast duty to national and global security which underpinned the political agreement reached today.
The agreement on the continued UK-US military presence on Diego Garcia is expected to run for 99 years with an option to renew.
The UK will pay a regular annual sum of money during the agreement and there will be funding to help benefit Chagossians.
A group of asylum seekers have been living on Diego Garcia since 2021 after they encountered difficulties while trying to travel by boat from Sri Lanka to Canada.
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The British Indian Ocean Territory has been considering their claims for protection.
Mauritius would be responsible for any future arrivals under the new agreement.
A joint statement from the UK and Mauritius governments said the treaty will ‘address wrongs of the past and demonstrate the commitment of both parties to support the welfare of Chagossians’.
They also said the agreement will ‘herald a new era of economic, security and environmental partnership between our two nations’, adding: ‘To enable this partnership the UK will provide a package of financial support to Mauritius.
‘This will include an indexed annual payment for the duration of the agreement and the establishment of a transformational infrastructure partnership, underpinned by UK grant funding, to deliver strategic projects generating meaningful change for ordinary Mauritians and boosting economic development across the country.’
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