2mo ago

UK signs deal to hand over Chagos Islands and lease back military base for £101m a year

5 comments

So the UK pays and the US uses it... right...
- Yeah I agree with the principal of this but does that mean the UK will also charge the US for the air base?
  
  I think they already do,but surely not what it now costs them.
Absolutely stupid deal. We're paying money when we don't need to. I don't get the point. Even the Chagossians don't want it and just want to settle in the archipelago. That can be done under the Indian Ocean territory to some extent. It's just stupid.
- Not according to them though:
  The Chagos Islands were separated from Mauritius in 1965, when Mauritius was still a British colony.
  Britain purchased the islands for £3m, but Mauritius says it was illegally forced to give them away, as part of the deal to get independence from Britain.
  In the late 1960s, Britain invited the US to build a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island. It removed thousands of people from their homes.
  The UK has come under growing pressure to return the islands to Mauritius, with both the United Nations' top court and general assembly siding with Mauritius over sovereignty claims