Mauritius PM thanks Modi day after UK announced to hand over Chagos Islands

PTI, Oct 5, 2024, 8:13 AM IST

India's President Droupadi Murmu with Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth0 (Credit: PTI / File)

Port Louis: Mauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth on Friday thanked his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for “completing our decolonisation” a day after the UK government announced to hand over sovereignty of the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to the country.

Jugnauth took to X to thank Modi as he wrote, “Mauritius thanks the African Union @AfricanUnion, the Government of India @narendramodi and all friendly countries which have supported us in our fight for completing our decolonisation.”

The UK on Thursday announced a “historic” agreement that will see Britain hand over sovereignty of the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius while it retains the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.

The British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) status of the disputed archipelago, made up of around 60 islands, has been in contention for many years and negotiations over its future began under the previous Conservative Party government in 2022.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to his Mauritian counterpart Jugnauth soon after to welcome the political agreement achieved between the UK and Mauritius on the exercise of sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago after two years of negotiations.