London and Washington attempt to forge a new neocolonial reality using old tactics, and at the expense of other nations
The UK and Mauritius have signed an agreement to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius. Under the terms of the deal, London will relinquish control of the archipelago – which hosts a joint US-UK military base on its territory – but will retain authority over its largest island, Diego Garcia, under a 99-year lease in exchange for financial assistance.
According to The Guardian, the administration of US President Donald Trump, which was consulted on the deal, has approved it.
“The strategic location of this base is of the utmost significance to Britain, from deploying aircraft to defeat terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan to anticipating threats in the Red Sea and the Indo-Pacific,” UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced.
Diego Garcia and the other islands of the archipelago were discovered by the famous Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama in 1512 and remained uninhabited until the French began using the archipelago as a settlement for lepers and later, in the late 18th century, for coconut plantations worked by African slaves.
From 1715 to 1810, Chagos was part of the French overseas territories in the Indian Ocean, governed by the French colony of Isle de France which would later be renamed Mauritius. During the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), the British took control of these territories, and under the Paris Agreement of 1814, France ceded Isle de France along with the Chagos Archipelago to Britain.
In 1966, despite the UN’s objections to British control over the archipelago, London leased Diego Garcia to the US for 50 years in exchange for a $14 million discount on the purchase of Polaris ballistic missile submarines. The island has an area of just about 27 sq km and the lagoon is surrounded by a narrow strip of surface coral reefs. It has the largest continuous atoll rim in the world – about 60km in length; the dryland rim has a maximum width of 2.4km, and at its highest point the island is 7 meters above sea level. With its coconut palms, it looks like paradise on earth.
In October 2024, the UK finally decided to transfer the Chagos Islands – its only overseas territory located in the Indian Ocean – back to Mauritius. The decision followed intense negotiations and disputes at both local and international levels.
It all started in the 1990s when several Chagossians, exiled from their islands and holding British citizenship, filed lawsuits to assert their right to return home but were unsuccessful. In the early 2000s, around 4,500 Chagossian descendants living in the UK, Mauritius, and the Seychelles sought compensation but also met with failure. Meanwhile, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq only solidified Diego Garcia’s strategic importance as a launchpad for airstrikes carried out by the US and its allies.
In June 2017, the UN General Assembly passed resolution 71/292, requesting an advisory opinion from the International Court of Justice regarding the legality of the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965. Based on the court’s findings, which called for the complete decolonization of Mauritius, the General Assembly demanded the unconditional withdrawal of British troops from the archipelago.
The UK has fought to retain Diego Garcia, as the island plays a crucial military, strategic, and economic role in advancing its geopolitical interests in East Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian Ocean.
The joint US-UK military base, equipped with a runway, is used for positioning navy ships and long-range bombers. It is essential to American operations in the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf and played an active role during Operation Desert Storm (1991), Operation Enduring Freedom (2001–2021), and other operations in the Middle East.
Utilizing the base is significantly cheaper than deploying expensive aircraft carriers at sea and allows for a quicker response to external threats. Situated at the heart of Indian Ocean shipping routes, it allows the US and UK to oversee the transit of energy resources and goods between Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, while also serving as a tool against maritime piracy and terrorism.
Recent reports indicate that the US has deployed Northrop B-2 Spirit strategic bombers to Diego Garcia. The Wall Street Journal described the deployment as a warning to Iran and the Houthis, against whom Washington is conducting military operations in the Red Sea.
Given the current situation in the Middle East, there is speculation that the US might utilize the aircraft stationed at Diego Garcia for a potential nuclear strike on Iran. National Interest noted that by December 2024, the US had successfully completed a significant upgrade of the B61-12 nuclear warhead, which cost $9 billion. The modernized version is the latest iteration of the B61 since its introduction in 1968 at the height of the Cold War.
The recent enhancements effectively transform the “dumb” gravity bomb into a precision weapon with a circular probable deviation of just 30 meters. The B61-12 is certified for use on F-15E, F-16, F-35A, B-2 Spirit, and NATO’s Tornado aircraft.
Whether the B61-12 would specifically target alleged Iranian nuclear facilities remains uncertain. However, it is known that “support for nuclear-capable military platforms is a key function of Diego Garcia,” according to a report from the Lowy Institute. The likelihood of B61-12 warheads being temporarily stationed at Diego Garcia is quite high. Additionally, Diego Garcia is not subject to the African Nuclear-Weapon-Free-Zone Treaty (Pelindaba Treaty).
Iran’s response to the deployment of B-2 bombers at the Diego Garcia base has been quite firm. On March 29, The Telegraph, citing a senior Iranian military official, reported that Iran would not hesitate to strike the Diego Garcia joint US-British naval base in retaliation for any American attack on its territory.
“Iran possesses adequate weapons for such an attack from its mainland, such as newer versions of the Khorramshahr missile that have an intermediate range, and the Shahed-136B kamikaze drone with a range of 4,000 kilometers (2,485 miles),” the article stated, referencing Iranian media.
Despite reaching an agreement to transfer the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius, residents of the islands have little hope of returning to Diego Garcia – the most habitable island of the archipelago – from which they were expelled by the British in the 1970s during the construction of the military base. Under the terms of the deal, access to the island remains prohibited.
This agreement has also stirred controversy regarding other overseas territories of the UK. On October 3, 2024, the same day the deal with Mauritius was announced, Argentina urged Britain to return the Falkland Islands.
“We will restore full sovereignty over our Malvinas Islands through concrete actions, not empty rhetoric. The Malvinas were, are, and always will be Argentine,” stated Argentina’s foreign minister, Diana Mondino.
Argentine President Javier Milei has repeatedly emphasized the necessity of returning the Falkland Islands to Argentina. At the same time, discussions have emerged about Spain reclaiming Gibraltar. However, in early October 2024, the UK firmly stated that the sovereignty of both the Falkland Islands and Gibraltar is “non-negotiable” and that the agreement with Mauritius should not be seen as a precedent for other territorial disputes, as the Chagos Islands represent “a unique situation based on its unique history and circumstances.”
The situation with the Chagos Islands demonstrates the reluctance of Western powers to relinquish their colonial past, which allows them to maintain control over formerly dependent but currently sovereign nations. Losing control of the Chagos Islands would be too painful for the geostrategic ambitions of the UK and the US, which seek to uphold global hegemony at the expense of the interests of the native inhabitants of the formerly colonized states. Diego Garcia is a clear example of post-colonialism which is pulling the world back into an era of oppression, subjugation, and international inequality.
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