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STORY: Britain will give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, it said on Thursday (October 3, 2024).

However, it retains the use of the strategic airbase on Diego Garcia, jointly operated with the United States.

Its operation is protected by the agreement.

The deal would allow people displaced decades ago to return home and resettle the rest of the islands.

It marks a change of approach to the issue from new British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

U.S. President Joe Biden welcomed the deal.

And said it would secure the effective operation of the airbase into the next century.

Britain has controlled the region since 1814.

In 1965, it detached the Chagos Islands from Mauritius to create the British Indian Ocean Territory.

It then evicted almost 2,000 residents to Mauritius and the Seychelles to make way for an airbase on the largest island, Diego Garcia.

In 2019, a non-binding resolution in the United Nations General Assembly said Britain had wrongfully forced the population to leave and should give up control of the islands.

Mauritius's foreign affairs ministry and prime minister's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment.