London
CNN
–
The UK government’s plan to hand over the strategically important Chagos Islands to Mauritius to sign off on Thursday, as the 11-hour legal injunction failed to stop its highly controversial efforts in both the UK and the US.
Prime Minister Kiel intends to return the island to an African country while maintaining control of the US-UK Diego Garcia military base, and deals are expected to be finalized on Thursday.
It comes after a High Court judge temporarily blocked the movement in a ruling made at 2am local time (9pm Wednesday). The contract was challenged by Bernadette Dugas and Bertolice Pompe, Chagosia women living in the UK who opposed the contract on human rights grounds.
The UK negotiations with Mauritius in the Chagos Islands are complicated and controversial.
Starmer’s Government announced plans to sell the island to an East African country shortly after taking office last year, framing it as a much-anticipated solution to the colonial arrangements that have led to ethical and legal dilemmas.
London is expected to pay billions of pounds to close the deal, and Mauritius is heavily dependent on imports from China, raising national security concerns on both sides of the Atlantic.
Former conservative defense minister Grant Shapps told CNN earlier this year that the plan was “crazy.”
“(China) uses territory to expand its influence. They spy,” Shapps told CNN. “There’s a lot of sensitive stuff going on at British military bases, so I don’t want to be surrounded by potential enemies.”
Critics of the deal were given unlikely hope hours before it was scheduled to be completed, and the temporary injunction left the plan behind.
During a full hearing late Thursday morning, a foreign ministry lawyer told the court: “My instructions from 10th place are that if you sign today, a decision is required by 1pm today and everyone is on standby,” according to PA Media News, who attended the courtroom.
The lawyers argued that the transaction provided “clear” benefits to the national security interests of the UK and US. “Diego Garcia is an important, very important foundation for the preservation of its facilities, which is the most important part of the UK national security, as it is very common for the US and UK to operate jointly,” he said.
Meanwhile, Dugasse and Pompe criticized the government for negotiating the island’s future without consulting with the exiled Chagossian community.
Last year, Pompo, who lives in London, told the BBC: “I would like to go back… I would like to go there for more than a week… The UK is not my country, but I have to just be here to be here.”
The UK has ruled the region since 1814, and in 1965 it divided the Chagos Islands from Mauritius before the former colony gained independence. London ruled the archipelago and renamed it to the British territory of the Indian Ocean.
It then drove almost 2,000 residents to Mauritius and the Seychelles, creating space for the air base in its largest island, Diego Garcia. The secret base is important to Washington’s interests and gives it a vital military presence in the Indian Ocean.
But its future could be cast on uncertainty in 2019, when the International Court of Justice (ICJ) decided that the UK should return the island “as soon as possible” and colonized “in a way that is consistent with the right to self-determination.” The ruling was a recommendation, but was overwhelmingly approved by the UN General Assembly.
