Britain pauses Chagos Island deal ratification after US criticism

2026-02-25 - 15:23

An infographic of the “Diego Garcia Base” in the Chagos Archipelago. (Reuters pic) LONDON: Britain has paused the process of ratifying a deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago – including an island with the strategically important US-UK air base Diego Garcia, a foreign office minister said in parliament on Wednesday. Last year British Prime Minister Keir Starmer agreed a deal to transfer sovereignty of the Indian Ocean islands to Mauritius, while keeping control of Diego Garcia through a 99-year lease that preserved US operations at the base. Trump last week renewed his criticism of that deal, saying Starmer was making a “big mistake”. Speaking on Wednesday foreign office minister Hamish Falconer told lawmakers the process of ratifying the deal in the British parliament had been paused and that there were talks with the United States. “We have a process going through parliament in relation to the treaty. We will bring that back to parliament at the appropriate time. We are pausing for discussions with our American counterparts,” he said. Meanwhile, Mauritius attorney general in reaction to Britain’s move to pause the deal said it did not come as a surprise. The attorney general noted there has been no discussions on the legislative process on the matter for the last three weeks.