The British government has scrapped plans to grant sovereign power to Mauritius over the Chagos archipelago south of the Maldives.
The British decided to end negotiations to hand over Chagos to Mauritius over fears that it could lead to the growth of Chinese power in the Indian Ocean, UK newspaper The Telegraph reported. Mauritius is an ally of China with close relations to the country.
The UK colonized the Chagos islands in the 1800s. The island of Diego Garcia was leased until 2036 for the development and operation of an American naval base.
The UN repeatedly urged the UK to give the islands back to Mauritius, which successfully petitioned the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to declare that it has sovereignty over Chagos.
A resolution calling on the UK to cede Chagos to Mauritius in line with the ICJ ruling was proposed to the UN in 2019. A large majority of nations supported the resolution but the US, UK and Australia voted to keep Chagos under British control.
After the UN decided in 2021 that British control over Chagos was unlawful, the UK government engaged in discussions with Mauritius in late 2022 to hand over the archipelago.
In light of the international court's decision that Mauritius should have sovereignty over Chagos, a case was filed with the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) to demarcate the maritime boundary between the Maldives and the Chagos islands. ITLOS upheld the ICJ ruling and divided an overlapping area.
One of the main arguments made against Mauritius in the dispute was the lack of clarity concerning the country’s sovereignty over Chagos. The question of sovereignty must be resolved first, the Maldives argued.
Appealing the ITLOS judgment within the first 100 days of his administration was a campaign pledge of President Dr. Mohamed Muizzu.
