Britain has agreed to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, ending years of bitter conflict over Britain's last African colony.
Britain expelled Chagossians for what it said were crimes against humanity in the 1960s and 1970s, when Mauritius remained in what was known as the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) after gaining independence in 1968.
The agreement follows a series of negotiations that began in 2022, after Mauritius' sovereignty claims were recognized by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the United Nations General Assembly, and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (Itros) in 2019 and 2021. It is something.
It turns out that Britain illegally separated the Chagos Islands from Mauritius before granting them independence in 1968. Britain initially defied the UN vote and court ruling to return the islands, stressing that the ICJ ruling was only an “advisory opinion.”
Attempts to halt the negotiations failed, claiming that the Chagossians were not consulted or involved.
