Chagos Islands dispute: UK ‘threatened’ Mauritius
The British government has been accused of threatening a close ally in an increasingly bitter diplomatic tug-of-war over the fate of a tiny, strategic archipelago in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The dispute over the Chagos Islands – home to the US military base on Diego Garcia – is being portrayed by some as an indication of Britain’s waning influence on the world stage following the Brexit vote. Next week the issue will come before judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.We have had verbal threats, said the Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Jugnauth, in an interview with BBC News. He did not dispute a report that Britain’s former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson had called him personally to pressure Mauritius to back down on its demand that the islands be returned after decades under UK control.
Unfortunately, we have been threatened with retaliation… on issues of trade and on issues of investment, you know, and on our relationship with the UK, Mr Jugnauth added.’Dangerous precedent’Asked about those threats, a spokeswoman for the British Foreign Office declined to respond directly but said we are disappointed that Mauritius have taken this bilateral dispute to the International Court of Justice for an advisory opinion.This is an inappropriate use of the ICJ Advisory Opinion mechanism and sets a dangerous precedent for other bilateral disputes. While we do not recognise the Republic of Mauritius’s claim to sovereignty of the archipelago, we have repeatedly undertaken to cede it to Mauritius when no longer required for defence purposes, and we maintain that commitment.It is half a century since the UK took control of the Chagos Islands from its then colony, Mauritius, and evicted the entire population, before inviting the United States to build a military base on Diego Garcia, one of the larger atolls.
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