Introduction:
Decolonisation is a significant development in international law, geopolitics, and relationships between countries. Among the most recent cases is the Chagos Archipelago’s sovereignty dispute between the Chagos Archipelago’s people and the UK government over its relocation to Mauritius. About 2,000 kilometres away from the East African coast, in the Indian Ocean, is a chain of over 60 tiny islands known as the Chagos Archipelago. This has been an area of long-running legal and diplomatic dispute between Mauritius, a state that claims the territory, and the United Kingdom, which has managed it.
Background History:
Colonial Heritage
The Chagos Archipelago was the first part of Africa, India, and Madagascar with people settling in it. In the Treaty of Paris in 1814, France relinquished the Chagos Archipelago and Mauritius to Britain. Britain continued maintaining control over the entire island nation, including the Chagos Islands, until 1968 when the country gained its independence.
However, in 1965, the UK divided Mauritius and separated off the Chagos Islands to set up the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), even though Mauritius was almost due to become an independent state. This additional land proved valuable for the US and UK to pursue their defence interests of setting up a military base on Diego Garcia – the largest island in the archipelago.
The Expulsion of the Chagossians
To make way for the military base on Diego Garcia, the UK forcibly evacuated the 1,500–2,000 Chagossian natives in the years 1967–1973. Most of the displaced Chagossians who were send to Mauritius and the Seychelles lives in abject poverty. Thus, they have waged a protracted legal battle for the right to return to their motherland.
The UK continued for many years claiming that BIOT was required for defense purposes, mainly because Diego Garcia was geographically located in the main body of operations during the Cold War and later in operations based in the Middle East and Afghanistan. The UK site still leased by the US is an important part of the overall US military plan.
Legislative and Diplomatic Challenges:
Judgments by ICJ and UN General Assembly
International support for the legal case against the British claim of sovereignty over the Chagos Islands was gain early in the twenty-first century. Mauritius has continually maintained that the islands should be returned as part of its territorial integrity and that it was unlawful for the UK to have separated the Chagos Islands from Mauritius before independence.
Such a declaratory opinion was sought through the International Court of Justice after it was requested by the United Nations General Assembly through a resolution adopted in 2017, with important diplomatic dividends to Mauritius. In a February 2019 decision, the ICJ ordered that the UK was in violation of international law in continuing to exercise control over the Chagos Archipelago and ruled that the UK must end its occupation “as soon as possible.” The court concluded that the UN Resolution 1514, which prohibits the decolonization of areas without the consent of the people, had been violated by the separation of the Chagos Islands from Mauritius in 1965.
In May 2019, the UNGA passed a resolution responding to the verdict of the ICJ declaring that the Chagos Archipelago is part of Mauritius and urged the United Kingdom to leave the islands within six months. From there, both the African Union and the UN have been upping the ante for the UK to respect the order of the ICJ and return the islands to Mauritius.
British and US Responses
The UK opposed the judgment of the ICJ stating that it was a question of sovereignty and fell outside the ICJ’s jurisdictions. UK still claims that the Chagos Archipelago is of strategic importance to Britain for its defence needs and that Britain will return to this area when it is no longer require. The UK was not able to say how long this promise would take and what conditions would have to fulfill. The United States has also had its share of concerns over any change in the status of the islands, particularly since it maintains an important military post on Diego Garcia, for which it uses the base for extensive military activities not only within the Indian Ocean but in other waters as well.
With international pressure, the UK still refused to comply with the advisory opinion of the ICJ and insisted that Diego Garcia was very significant for defence and security activities. There has been a growing realization that the existing state of affairs may not be sustainable in the long term due to increasing legal, diplomatic, as well as reputational challenges.
The UK’s Decision to Transfer Sovereignty
Shifting Geopolitical and Legal Landscape
In the wake of recent international legal decisions, numerous UN resolutions, and diplomatic pressure from African and developing countries, the UK’s position regarding Chagos is now more and more vulnerable than ever. In addition, the UK would like to seal its new future in the world after Brexit and move closer to trade as well as diplomatic relations, especially with some Commonwealth nations such as Mauritius.
The British government signalled a drastic turnaround when it announced that it would discuss the issue of sovereignty of the Chagos Islands with Mauritius in 2023. The UK has said it is willing to give up its sovereignty over the island of Mauritius, as recommended by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) if that means it will allow the US military facility on Diego Garcia to continue under a leasing arrangement. The terms of the deal are yet to be determine.
This is part of a greater trend in world geopolitics: the increasing pressure on former colonial states to address past wrongs and comply with international law. In taking sovereignty off the table, the UK is also implicitly admitting that it would come at too great a cost in terms of reputation and diplomacy to resist and continue to exert sovereignty over Chagos against the will of the international community.
Position of Mauritius
Long the claim of Mauritius has been that the Chagos Archipelago was unlawfully separating from its pre-independence borders and it should thus be reunified. To secure the security and defence requirements of the US and UK on regaining sovereignty over the islands, the Mauritian government has always declared it will allow the US military base on Diego Garcia to remain operational under a long-term lease.
Mauritius, on its part, has accepted the rights of the displaced Chagossian population and allowed their return back to the islands. That will be a major victory for the Chagossians, who have been fighting this case to be allow back home for nearly forty years. The details of this resettlement, however, continue to evoke debate, including details on infrastructural arrangements and environmental concerns regarding harbouring a population on the islands.
Transfer of Sovereignty:
Geopolitical Implications
Politically, ceding sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius will be very costly for the UK. For decades, this ruling has been a source of defiance by the UK against the ICJ verdict. Using this as an opportunity to mend its international standing while marking the latest phase of its decolonization process may strengthen the diplomatic ties of the UK with nations in Asia, Africa, and the larger Commonwealth, many of which have been sympathetic to Mauritian concerns.
Reclaiming sovereignty over the Chagos Islands would be considering a clear victory for Mauritius in its long-running battle to gain the territory it claimed from the United Kingdom. It will also increase the strategic importance of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean region, which may enable it to contribute further toward regional security and economic development. The US has already expressed its readiness to cooperate with Mauritius on maintaining the facility open, which would occur through a long lease.
International Law and Decolonisation
The resolution of the Chagos conflict will also significantly boost the process of decolonisation as well as international law. The judgment of the ICJ and subsequent UN resolutions, therefore, strengthening the notion that territorial arrangements inherited from the colonial past must be settle in terms of people’s rights to self-determination. Even if it comes a bit later than might have been hoped for, the UK’s resolve to respect these decisions could have significant implications elsewhere in the globe for other territorial disputes, especially between former colonies. Additionally, the case has shown how international courts like the ICJ can resolve complex questions of territory.
Prospects for Chagos and the Chagossian Community:
One of the more direct consequences of sovereignty transfer will be the possible repatriation of the Chagossian population to their homeland. The Mauritian government has committed itself to ensuring that Chagossians are allowed to resettle on the islands, although that is yet hindered by a range of logistical, environmental, and financial factors.
The most traumatic period in the history of the islands was soon to end with; the coming of the Chagossians back home. In what had seemed to be the very bleak living conditions awaiting them at home, many Chagossians have expressed a great desire to go back there. It is after so many years of displacement that the Chagossians saw this occasion to hand over sovereignty as a long-awaited opportunity for justice and redress, besides a political gain for Mauritius.
Conclusion:
In handing up control of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius, the UK made a historic decision for decolonisation, international law, and diplomacy. Though it has been decades in the making and remains complicated, it marks the beginning of settling territorial questions from the colonial era in an entirely different way for the twenty-first century. Therefore, the transfer of sovereignty becomes an outstanding success in pursuit of territorial integrity for Mauritius, and for the UK, it gives the possibility of rebuilding its worldwide reputation. Relocating Chagossians and continued maintenance of the military base at Diego Garcia would be decisive factors as events unfold and strategic importance in the Indian Ocean region to the islands.
