London: The United Kingdom has said it is handing over sovereignty of the <a href="https://time.news/diego-garcia-migrants-who-owns-diego-garcia-us-army-showed-arrogance-to-british-court-stopped-entry-even-let-alone-hearing-who-owns-diego-garcia-and-why-do-we-block-british-court-from-british-in/" title="Diego Garcia Migrants, Who owns Diego Garcia? US Army showed arrogance to British court, stopped entry even, let alone hearing – Who owns Diego Garcia and why do we block British court from British Indian Ocean Territory
– 2024-07-15 20:46:55″>Chagos Islands to Mauritius. Under this agreement, decades of negotiations on this remote but strategically important island group in the Indian Ocean have now ended. The British and Mauritius Prime Ministers issued a joint statement on Thursday giving this information. The agreement also includes Diego Garcia, which the US Navy uses as a military base to deploy long-range bombers and warships. Under this agreement, Diego Garcia, which plays an important role in the stability and international security of the region, will remain under the jurisdiction of the UK and the US for at least the next 99 years. Britain’s new Labor government had appointed former Prime Minister Tony Blair as its negotiator on the Chagos Islands just a month ago.
How did Britain capture the Chagos Islands?
More than 200 years ago, in 1814, Britain had captured Mauritius along with the Chagos Archipelago. From then till the independence of India, Mauritius remained a colony of Britain. In 1965, Britain liberated Mauritius, but retained ownership of the Chagos Islands. Britain later declared the Chagos Archipelago a British Indian Ocean territory.
How did Diego Garcia become America?
The British government leased Diego Garcia, the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago, to the United States in 1966. For this, America and Britain expelled about 2000 people living in this island group from their homes. According to the agreements signed in 1966, the US was allowed to use this area for an initial period of 50 years, with an extension of 20 more years. According to the website of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), the agreement was updated in 2016 and is now set to expire in 2036. The BIOT is administered from London, but is described as “constitutionally separate” from the UK.
‘War’ continues for Chagos Islands
Displaced people from the Chagos Archipelago have been struggling for years to return to their places of origin. In 2019, a resolution was passed in the United Nations General Assembly condemning Britain’s occupation of the Chagos Archipelago. Most of the member countries of the General Assembly demanded the return of this archipelago to Mauritius. The Chagos Refugee Group says those forcibly displaced to Seychelles and Mauritius face “extreme hardship and poverty”. In 2016, the UK Foreign Ministry extended the lease of Diego Garcia to 2036 and declared that evicted islanders would not be allowed to return. However, Britain is now planning to cancel that agreement, so that the islands can be returned to Mauritius.
Dispute between America and Britain regarding Diego Garcia
In fact, during the Covid-19 pandemic, a group of refugees who left Sri Lanka by boat had reached Diego Garcia wandering. These Tamil refugees were illegally detained and tortured in Diego Garcia. When Britain announced to send its team to investigate this, America refused permission citing the security of the naval base. However, later America was forced to give permission, but during this time the British investigation team had to face a lot of trouble. For this reason Britain was also angry with America’s behavior regarding Diego Garcia.