UK Hands Indian Ocean Islands To Mauritius But Keeps Key US Military Base

Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean is one of the most important US military bases and was used for wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (Credit: AFP)

Britain on Thursday said it would give up sovereignty of a remote Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius but will maintain there a strategic military base that it shares with the United States, in what US President Joe Biden described as a "historic agreement".

The British government has been under pressure for decades to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a former colony, but has resisted because of the military base on Diego Garcia island that plays a key role for US operations in the Indian Ocean and Gulf.