New Mauritian Prime Minister orders review of Chagos Islands agreement with UK

Mauritius’ newly elected prime minister has ordered an independent review of his predecessor’s interim agreement with the United Kingdom on the future of the Chagos Islands.

Navin Ramgoolam, who came to power at the beginning of the month, has already criticized the confidential agreementwhich has not yet been ratified.

He reportedly expressed lingering reservations after a meeting Monday with U.K. national security adviser Jonathan Powell about the islands, also known as the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Under the terms of the draft agreement, the United Kingdom would cede sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritiusexcept for the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia, which will remain under British control for at least the next 99 years.

The island is home to a strategic military base used by the United Kingdom and the United States. It was built following the controversial forced eviction of around 2,000 Chagossians who lived there in the 1960s and 1970s.

Mr Ramgoolam said his office would review the results of the review before deciding what to do next.

He has previously expressed concerns that details of the deal had not been made public and one of his ministers suggested the UK could end up controlling Diego Garcia and his base for at least 200 years, instead of 99 years, under the agreement.

This follows speculation that Donald Trump He could try to block the deal when he becomes president of the United States in January.

While current President Joe Biden and other White House officials have supported the deal, some U.S. politicians fear it could threaten U.S. security if Mauritius aligns itself more closely with China, which has invested massively in the country.

Critics include Republican Marco Rubio, who is Mr. Trump’s choice for secretary of state.

However, Downing Street said it was confident the deal would be concluded, with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hoping to ratify it soon.

Minister of Foreign Affairs David Lamy also said earlier this week that he believed the project would be approved, and added that the government was happy to give the new Mauritian administration time to consider the details.

The interim agreement was reached last month – just before the Mauritian elections – after years of negotiations.

However, many exiled Chagossians claim that they were not involved in the talks and therefore could not have approved the agreement.

Olivier Bancoult, of the Chagos Refugees Group, said he hoped the review would be completed quickly.

He added: “It is necessary to correct the injustice inflicted on the Chagossian population.”