United Kingdom shelves Chagos Islands transfer to Mauritius after United States withholds support

Key facts

• The United Kingdom has set aside a bill to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius due to lack of support from United States President Donald Trump.
• The UK government stated it would only proceed with the deal if it had US support.
• A bill outlining plans to cede sovereignty of the 60-plus Indian Ocean islands was dropped from the next UK parliamentary agenda starting 13 May.
• In May last year the UK and Mauritius jointly announced a deal to return full sovereignty of Chagos to Mauritius, with Britain leasing Diego Garcia on a 99-year lease to preserve US military operations.
• Trump opposed the move in January, calling it an 'act of great stupidity'.
• Diego Garcia is the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago and hosts a major United States military base leased from Britain since 1966.
• Mauritius Foreign Minister Dhananjay Ramful pledged to 'spare no effort to seize any diplomatic or legal avenue to complete the decolonisation process'.
• Britain has controlled the Chagos since 1814, including after Mauritius gained independence in the 1960s.
• The Diego Garcia base has supported US military operations in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.
• Chagossians forcibly evicted to make way for the base have brought compensation claims to British courts.
• In 2019 the International Court of Justice recommended that the archipelago be returned to Mauritius.