Trump has right to consider deal over Chagos Islands – Downing Street

The UK’s deliberate handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius must be thought-about by incoming US President Donald Trump earlier than it goes forward, Downing Avenue has mentioned.

Efforts had been made to get the treaty signed earlier than President-elect Trump’s inauguration on Monday, the PJ understands, and it had been anticipated the Mauritian cupboard would approve the proposal on Wednesday.

The UK plans at hand over sovereignty of the cluster of islands within the Indian Ocean, however to keep up a 99-year lease over the joint UK and US army airbase on the most important island, Diego Garcia.

A spokesman for Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer mentioned it was “completely cheap for the US administration to think about the element” of any settlement.

The deal has drawn criticism from politicians within the UK in addition to the incoming US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who mentioned it poses a “critical risk” to US safety.

Stories had urged Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam would log off the deal on Wednesday as he attended a cupboard assembly, nevertheless it was later introduced his legal professional normal was travelling to London to proceed talks.

The UK took management of the Chagos Islands, or British Indian Ocean Territory, from its then colony, Mauritius, in 1965 and went on to evict its inhabitants of greater than 1,000 individuals to make approach for the Diego Garcia base.

Mauritius, which received independence from the UK in 1968, has maintained that the islands are its personal, and the UN’s highest court docket has dominated, in an advisory opinion, that the UK’s administration of the territory is “illegal”.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir defended his plan, insisting it was one of the best ways to safeguard the army base.

Nonetheless, Conservative chief Kemi Badenoch mentioned the prime minister was “negotiating a secret deal to give up British territory and taxpayers on this nation can pay for the humiliation”.

Badenoch mentioned there was “no approach we must be giving up British territory in Chagos” and claimed Sir Keir was “dashing a deal which might be disastrous”.