US, Mauritius to hold bilateral security discussions on Chagos Archipelago, Diego Garcia
Washington, DC, US (PANA) - The United States and Mauritius will hold discussions next week in Port Louis on the Chagos Archipelago and Diego Garcia.
The talks from 23-25 February will be led by the Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, with participation from across the U.S. interagency, a statement by the US State Department said.
It added that the discussions underscore the “continued importance of the Chagos archipelago and the joint U.S.-UK base on Diego Garcia to our national security”.
The statement said the discussions will focus on bilateral security cooperation and effective implementation of security arrangements for the base to ensure its long-term, secure operation.
It said the United States supports the decision of the United Kingdom to proceed with its agreement with Mauritius concerning the Chagos archipelago.
“The United States reiterates its desire to conclude a bilateral agreement with the United Kingdom to guarantee continued use of basing and other facilities in the Chagos archipelago to advance U.S. national security, as well as security and stability across the Indian Ocean.”
Mauritius and the United Kingdom in October 2024 reached an agreement on the status of the Chagos Archipelago under which Mauritius was declared sovereign over the archipelago.
The agreement was reached after negotiations that started in 2022, ending decades of dispute and negotiation over Britain’s last African colony.
Mauritian calls for sovereignty were recognised by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the UN General Assembly in 2019 and 2021.
Under the terms of the agreement, the United Kingdom will “agree that Mauritius is sovereign” over the Chagos Archipelago, including Diego Garcia, site of a joint U.S.-UK military facility.
Under the agreement, the UK will still retain control of the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.
The agreement will secure the operational future of the joint U.S.-UK military facility on Diego Garcia into the next century, US officials said last year.
The US has maintained that Diego Garcia plays a vital role in its efforts to “establish regional and global security, respond to crises, counter to some of the most challenging security threats of our time”.
Before granting independence to Mauritius in 1968, Britain unlawfully separated it to form a new colony on the Chagos archipelago named the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT).
The UK had initially dismissed UN rulings and court judgements demanding it return the islands to Mauritius, arguing that the ICJ ruling was merely an advisory opinion.
In splitting the islands from Mauritius, the UK expelled between 1,500 and 2,000 islanders so that it could lease Diego Garcia, the largest of the Chagos islands, to the United States for military use which the two allies have since operated jointly.
According to news reports, the UK falsely declared that Chagos had no permanent population so that it would not have to report its colonial rule to the UN. In reality, the Chagossian community had lived on Chagos for centuries.
The UK and US governments forcibly displaced the Chagossian population between 1967 and 1973 not only reportedly on Diego Garcia, but also Peros Banhos and Salomon.
The campaign challenging British ownership of the Chagos archipelago included the Mauritian ambassador to the UN, Jagdish Koonjul, raising his country’s flag above the atoll of Peros Banhos in a ceremony in February 2022 to mark the first time Mauritius had led an expedition to the territory since the expulsions.
-0- PANA MA 18Feb2026
