Report: Trump Team Opposes Transfer of Chagos Islands From UK to Mauritius

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Facts

  • A report by The Independent claims that US Pres.-elect Donald Trump's transition team has sought legal advice from the Pentagon on how to veto the UK's decision to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to the East African country of Mauritius.[1]
  • In October, the UK announced that it was to hand over the British Indian Overseas Territory (BIOT), which it had removed from Mauritian sovereignty in 1965 — three years before the country was granted independence from the UK.[2]
  • Hundreds of Chagossians rallied in London Wednesday to protest the deal, which would continue the UK-US Diego Garcia military base for a minimum lease of 99 years. Protesters want the agreement to be replaced by a Chagossian referendum on British/Mauritian sovereignty.[3][4]
  • On the same day, Reform UK member of parliament Nigel Farage claimed that there was "outright hostility towards [the] deal" from the Trump team.[5][6]
  • In 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled 13-1 in an advisory opinion that the UK did not lawfully complete the decolonization process of Mauritius by keeping Chagos, ordering it to "end its administration of" the islands "as rapidly as possible."[7]
  • In response to Farage, Foreign Office minister Stephen Doughty stated that the agreement would "deliver benefits for the Chagossian community," create a "long-term partnership with Mauritius," and had been "welcomed by all parts of the US system."[5]

Sources: [1]Independent (a), [2]Verity, [3]Reuters, [4]BBC News, [5]Parliament, [6]Independent (b) and [7]ICJ-CIJ.

Narratives

  • Left narrative, as provided by The Guardian and The Conversation. The displacement of the Chagossians and annexation of the archipelago from Mauritius is a stain on British history, reminding the country of its dark past. This deal, a product of ongoing negotiations by successive governments, is a non-partisan step towards correcting the UK's colonial wrongs while preserving its strategic interests in Diego Garcia. The US and UK will not be harmed by this deal in any way, and thus have a duty to provide justice to the Chagossians.
  • Right narrative, as provided by GB News and UnHerd. Donald Trump's administration is the UK's only hope to see an end to the virtue signaling and see a return of the Chagos Islands to British rule. With the Pres.-elect's incoming team rightly setting its sights on China, allowing the UK to cede vitally important strategic territory in the Indian Ocean must not be tolerated. It is a stark reminder of life under Starmer's naïve Labour leadership that British interests are only being protected by foreign allies.