CHAGOS ISLANDS: Recently elected Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam told lawmakers that the contents of negotiations are ‘unknown’ to the government
Bloomberg and reuters, PORT LOUIS
Mauritius’ new prime minister ordered an independent review of a deal with the UK involving a strategically important US-UK military base in the Indian Ocean, placing the agreement under fresh scrutiny.
Under a pact signed last month, the UK ceded sovereignty of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius, while retaining control of Diego Garcia — the island where the base is situated.
The deal was signed by then-Mauritian prime minister Pravind Jugnauth and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Oct. 3 — a month before elections in Mauritius in which Navin Ramgoolam became premier.
A US Air Force B-1B bomber takes off from the Diego Garcia military base on a strike mission against Afghanistan in Diego Garcia on Oct. 7, 2001.
Photo: AFP
“I have asked for an independent review of the confidential draft agreement agreed so far,” Ramgoolam said. “I will keep the house informed of the next steps in the negotiations.”
When Mauritius became independent in the 1960s, London retained control of the Chagos Islands, and forcibly displaced up to 2,000 people in the 1970s to make way for the base.
The UK last month said it would hand over the islands, after years of sometimes acrimonious negotiations, but many of the exiled Chagossians said they were not involved in the negotiations and cannot endorse it.
Olivier Bancoult from the Chagos Refugees Group, which defends the rights of Chagossians, said he hoped the review would be done quickly.
“There is a need to correct injustice inflicted on the Chagossian population,” Bancoult said.
The UK has dismissed concerns the deal could collapse due to the desire of the new government in Mauritius to scrutinize the details.
However, it is unclear whether US president-elect Donald Trump would maintain US President Joe Biden’s support for the pact.
US Senator Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for US secretary of state, has warned it poses “a serious threat” to US national security, while the UK is not expected to ratify the deal until after Trump’s inauguration in January, giving his administration the opportunity to re-examine the agreement if it wants.
Starmer described it as a “good deal” on Thursday. His spokesman told reporters that it’s “entirely understandable for a new administration to engage on the detail of the agreement” and while there is no discussion about renegotiating the deal, they are working with Mauritius to finalize the detail of the legal treaty.
Since securing victory on Nov. 12, Ramgoolam has held talks with local officials, external legal advisers and new UK National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell about the status of the negotiations with the UK, he told lawmakers in the capital, Port Louis, on Friday.
Details of talks that have taken place over the past two years are “unknown” to the new government, he said.
The meetings between Powell and the new administration have been “productive” and letters exchanged between Starmer and Ramgoolam have indicated he’s open to progressing the agreement, Starmer’s spokesman said on Thursday. Powell is planning to also travel to the US to discuss the agreement.
When Mauritius became independent in the 1960s, London retained control of the Chagos Islands, and forcibly displaced up to 2,000 people in the 1970s to make way for the base.
