Inside the Chagos Islands Deal Between UK and Mauritius

The United Kingdom's deal with Mauritius to hand over the Chagos Islands is currently passing through Parliament, while US President Donald Trump has shifted his views on the agreement. Here's everything to know.

The Chagos Islands, located in the central Indian Ocean, have been under British control since 1814, when they took the archipelago along with Mauritius under the Treaty of Paris. In 1965, Mauritius was split away from the Chagos Islands, which were re-labeled as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).

This allowed the United States and the United Kingdom to construct a bilateral military base in the archipelago, now known as Diego Garcia. Built on a coral atoll, Diego Garcia contains a large airstrip and several military hangars, along with a separate military base and naval support center, with the center of the atoll serving as an area for ships to anchor. The base has been utilized for various American and British operations, specifically in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam during the late 20th century.

Under the agreement, the UK was obligated to return the islands to Mauritius once they were no longer crucial to British defense, but Mauritius gained independence from Britain in 1968 and later shifted to a republic in 1992. Due to this, Mauritius began to find legal ways to challenge the UK's ownership of the islands, particularly in international courts like the International Court of Justice (ICJ). These efforts were led by native Chagossians, who have been campaigning to retake their ancestral lands since being forcefully relocated to Mauritius, the Seychelles, and the UK in the 1960s.

Out of respect for international law, the UK began talks with Mauritius on returning the islands in 2022, and a deal was reached in 2024 after 11 rounds of negotiations. On May 22, 2025, the UK and Mauritius officially signed a treaty to return the islands, granting Mauritius full ownership of the Chagos archipelago.

Meanwhile, the UK would begin to lease the land for the military base from Mauritius, costing them around £101 million per year ($136.8 million). The lease would last for 99 years, with the possibility of renewal in the future. However, the deal is still making its way through the British Parliament.

The announcement of the treaty drew the ire of many British politicians, who highlighted the massive amount of money they would be pouring into the leasing of the base, while US President Donald Trump described the agreement as an "act of great stupidity" and added that the deal made it even more important for the US to annex Greenland. Others pointed out concerns over Mauritius' relationship with anti-Western nations like China, which maintain major investments into local infrastructure development and the Mauritian economy as a whole.

Nevertheless, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer argued that Mauritius had the legal rights to the archipelago, and the UK would have faced possible restrictions or sanctions had they not finalized a deal before a ruling from the ICJ. He also pointed out that a lack of official control over the islands could allow other nations like China to establish bases on other atolls within the Chagos archipelago, further pushing them towards a deal.

Then, this week, Trump pivoted, shifting his stance on the Chagos Islands agreement just two weeks after backing off his threats to forcefully capture Greenland from Denmark. After "very productive discussions" with Starmer over the Diego Garcia base, the US president labeled his deal as "the best he could make." Trump also reserved the right to "militarily secure and reinforce the American presence in Diego Garcia" if a breakdown of the deal or any other sort of threat towards local American operations were to take place in the future.

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