The UK Surrenders the Chaos Islands to Mauritius

On October 3 2024, after a history of political and legal wranglings, the UK returned the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The deal struck by Starmer’s government runs through the 1960s and 1970s which saw Chagossians leave the British Indian territories for the construction of the UK-US Diego Garcia military base. The deal hands over sovereignty back to Mauritius and opens the opportunity for Chagossians to return to all islands apart from Diego Garcia. The UK and Mauritius agreed that Diego Garcia would remain a UK-US military base for 99 years. The twofold internal pressure from Chagossian rights groups in the UK and external, international pressure have helped shape the political sentiment that legitimised this deal and pushed the UK to return what a HRW report has labelled the UK’s ‘last colony in Africa’.

The international pressure that characterised the deal has three main bodies: the International Criminal Court of Justice (ICJ), UN General Assembly and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS). 

In 2019, the ICJ found Mauritius' independence was not ‘lawfully completed’ in 1968 with the separation of the Chagos Archipelago. The consequences of such a decision should not be overstated. This was an advisory decision, of which consequentiality should be tempered alongside Britain’s internal legal and political pressure and will be explored further in the article. The ICJ advised the UK it must terminate its ‘administration of the Chagos Archipelago… as rapidly as possible’.

Secondly, the other key factor in accelerating this deal was the 2019 ‘crushing defeat’ in the UN general assembly vote. With a 116-6 vote, the UN General Assembly voted in favour of the UK's swift withdrawal from the Chagos Islands to complete its decolonisation process. Pundits argued that Brexit made the UK lose its support base in the UN and contributed to this loss.

The development of precedent in the UK’s highest courts increased internal legal pressure. The BIOT (British Indian Ocean Territories) Immigration Ordinance 1971 enacted by the BIOT Commissioner made it impossible for Chagossians to return to the land. This legislation was challenged on  November 3 2000 in the High Court, declaring such an order to be unlawful. Lord Justice Laws in response to the Commissioner’s submissions for the removal of the Chagossians rejected the argument that the removal of Chagossians contributed to the ‘territory’s peace, order and good government’. This decision laid the foundation for a challenge to the immunity of prerogative power.

To bypass the High Court’s decision, the government used prerogative powers. This decision was overruled in 2008 by the House of Lords in R v Foreign Secretary, ex parte Bancoult (No 2) [2008] UKHL 61 which found that prerogative powers were not immune to judicial review. However, the following year the government won an appeal in the Supreme Court ensuring that the Chagossians could not return.

The reaction from the Chagossian community to the deal has been divided. Some celebrate and welcome the decision, such as the Mauritian and British government. However, the Chagossian community in the UK are more fraught: young Chagossians would rather see their community be supported, others worry about their own status in the UK and some resent this decision because ‘nobody asked us’. Although heads of state may welcome this deal, the reaction from the ordinary Chagossian community suggests that this decision is not as impactful as it might seem. As Chagossians themselves have recognised and accepted, their limbo is a consequence of years of displacement and exclusion caused by the selfishness of British imperialism and rashness of the Mauritian government. The response from young Chagossians prefers an approach that looks forward rather than to the past, hence why they would call for more support in the UK.

Exploring the development of international and domestic legal precedents helps characterise the mounting pressure on the UK to abandon its colonies and complete the process of decolonisation. Although political pressure was not discussed in this article, it is important to analyse the international pressure built from endless campaigns and work with the Chagossians’ effort and the unity of the Africans. Brexit explains why an isolated Britain may lose support in circles where it once was an influential voice. The deal was long overdue and should not at all be surprising in the current diplomatic atmosphere.

By: Daniel Akerele