Nasheed says UK ceding Chagos to Mauritius unacceptable
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The UK’s decision to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius amid Maldives' claims is unacceptable, former President Mohamed Nasheed said on Thursday.
Britain said on Thursday it would cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a deal it said secured the future of the UK-US. Diego Garcia military base, and which could also pave the way for people displaced decades ago to return home.
In a post on X, Nasheed said while the Maldives has a clear claim, the UK should not give Peros Banhos Atoll (Foalhavahi in Maldives language) to Mauritius.
"This is deeply misguided policy," the post read.
British Foreign Minister David Lammy said the deal settled the contested sovereignty of the islands, the last British overseas territory in Africa, while ongoing legal challenges had imperilled the long-term future of the Diego Garcia.
Britain, which has controlled the region since 1814, detached the Chagos Islands in 1965 from Mauritius - a former colony that became independent three years later - to create the British Indian Ocean Territory.
In the early 1970s, Britain evicted almost 2,000 residents to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for an airbase on Diego Garcia, the largest island, which it had leased to the United States in 1966.
A non-binding resolution in the United Nations General Assembly in 2019 said Britain should give up control of the archipelago after wrongfully forcing the population to leave.
