Mauritius Watch

[Cyclops]

India backs Mauritius in sovereignty dispute with UK on Chagos Island​

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar assured Mauritius that India will support the island nation on the issue of the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean.​

File photo shows Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago. (Image: Reuters)


India Today News Desk
New Delhi,UPDATED: Jul 16, 2024 18:48 IST
Written By: Anuja Jha

In Short​

• Jaishankar reaffirms India's stand on Chagos dispute
• Chagos includes strategic US airbase Diego Garcia
• Mauritius disputes British control, demands rights over islands

India on Tuesday reaffirmed its support for Mauritius in the sovereignty dispute with the United Kingdom (UK) over the Chagos archipelago in the Indian Ocean.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, who is on a two-day visit to Mauritius, held wide-ranging talks with the country's leadership to cement bilateral ties.

Jaishankar said, “I would like to again assure you today that on the issue of Chagos, India will continue its consistent support to Mauritius in line with its principal stand on decolonisation and support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations.”

The Chagos Islands include the strategic US airbase of Diego Garcia. The archipelago has been operated as a British Indian Ocean Territory. Mauritius has, however, disputed this and is demanding its rights over the islands. The dispute has been going on for decades.

ABOUT CHAGOS ISLAND DISPUTE​

The Chagos dispute centres around the archipelago in the Indian Ocean, which Britain claimed along with Mauritius in 1814.

In 1966, Britain leased Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos Islands, to the United States, which was seeking a military base in the region. This move led to the forced removal of approximately 2,000 Chagossians in the 1960s and 1970s, who were relocated to Mauritius and the Seychelles, hundreds of miles away.


The Chagossians, who are mostly descendants of African slaves brought to the islands in the 18th century, have since been engaged in a prolonged legal battle for the right to return to their homeland. Despite several British court rulings in their favor, Britain's highest court overturned these decisions in 2008, citing security concerns due to the American military presence on Diego Garcia, a critical base during the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts.


Mauritius, which gained independence from Britain in 1968, has consistently maintained its claim over the Chagos Islands. Former Mauritian President Anerood Jugnauth had emphasised that the separation of Chagos from Mauritius was against United Nations resolutions and represented a grave injustice to the country.

In 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) dismissed the UK's right to govern the Chagos Islands and called on its government to withdraw from the archipelago.

https://www.indiatoday.in/india/sto...e-with-uk-on-chagos-island-2567638-2024-07-16

Fun fact: Britain losing Diego Garcia(a British Indian Ocean Territory-BIOT) would be a win both for decolonisation and one more nail in the coffin for the phrase "the empire on which the sun never sets"
This is to say we are getting closer to the sun actually setting on the already flimsy British "Empire".

 

[Cyclops]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2TAfpFvCog

 

[FalconSlayers]

Diego Garcia now is Mauritian territory. This basically means the security of Mauritius is now guaranteed by United States and India both of whom have Naval military bases in Mauritian islands.


View: https://x.com/Telegraph/status/1907041821466775935

 

[karn]

Diego Garcia now is Mauritian territory. This basically means the security of Mauritius is now guaranteed by United States and India both of whom have Naval military bases in Mauritian islands.


View: https://x.com/Telegraph/status/1907041821466775935

After all that ranting senator kennedy did .. If true ..This is going to make so many brit and US pignats seethe so much.

 

[Cyclops]

After all that ranting senator kennedy did .. If true ..This is going to make so many brit and US pignats seethe so much.

Their seething is inconsequential to reality.
Their elites know where they stand, so the pro-hegemony westerners asking for the irrational means f**k all.

They know their empires are over-stretched, Brits basically have none.

It's easy to maintain foreign bases when regional powers don't have the capacity for real power projection, but when they get more competent and can police their neighborhood(what Zeihans of the world don't get or want to get coz "muh denial"), global hegemons are then shown to be what they are worth.
And now we know what they are worth in 2025.

And like I said initially, the sun officially setting on a BIOT with Indian involvement is poetic justice if there ever was one.

 

[ArjunMK1A]

Question. Does dieago Garcia base will exist. Or it will handed over to Mauritius.

Cherry on top will be we are taking that base. Absolute seethe

 

[Gandaberunda]

We have to take over Diego Garcia Air base if we have ambition to make our Navy Blue water and become net security provider in Indian Ocean

 

[silentassassin265]

Question. Does dieago Garcia base will exist. Or it will handed over to Mauritius.

Cherry on top will be we are taking that base. Absolute seethe

The whole deal is just an eyewash,
US will hold the millitary base and keep holding it until end of the century.
Barely anyone lives on that island except the millitary and beside diego Gargcia I doubt anyone would want to live there as the island is middle of nowhere.