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Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera
World

UK agrees to give sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius

Fuel tanks at the edge of a military airstrip on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago and site of a major US military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean leased from the UK in 1966 [File: Reuters]

The United Kingdom has announced it is giving up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a deal that will secure the future of a key US military base on the atoll of Diego Garcia while allowing islanders displaced for the past five decades a right of return.

The deal, announced jointly by the UK and Mauritius on Thursday, grants the latter full sovereignty over the remote archipelago, guaranteeing the operation of the United States base for the next 99 years.

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