Great Britain handed over to the Mauritius of the island of Chagos. The British-American military base located there will remain there for at least 99 years

British Prime Minister Cyrus Starmer signed an agreement on the transfer of the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean, BBC reports.

The archipelago includes seven islands. On one of them, Diego-Garsia, since 1965 there is a military base, which is jointly used by the UK and the USA.

In accordance with the agreements reached, the territory of the base will remain on the UK for 99 years. London will pay for rent 101 million pounds per year .

• Great Britain owned the Chagos archipelago since 1814. In 1965, Chagos was administratively separated from Mauritius, which was then the British colony, in order to build a military base there. In the next seven years, the entire population of the archipelago was deported.
• Mauritius gained independence in 1968, after which he began to seek the return of Chagos to his composition. In 2019, the UN International Court ordered the UK to return the archipelago. The final transfer agreement was reached in October 2024.
• The base on the island of Diego-Garcia is of important strategic importance. American and British aircraft based there take part, for example, in operations in the Middle East.