Chagos Islands deal with a last -minute pause pause

The government was temporarily prohibited from completing negotiations on the Chagos Islands transaction by ordering at the last moment by a judge from the Supreme Court.

At 2:25 BST, Justice Goose provided a “temporary relief” to two women from Chagossian who filed a case against the external service.

Prime Minister Sir Kyar Starmer was expected to attend a virtual signing ceremony with representatives of the Mauritan government on Thursday morning.

The agreement will see the United Kingdom to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, but will allow the United Kingdom and the United States to continue using a military base located on the Indian Ocean Archipelago for the original period of 99 years.

The UK government is yet to define the estimated payments that the British taxpayer would make to Mauritius as part of the deal, but is expected to face billions.

In response to the court order, a government spokesman said: “We do not comment on current legal cases. This transaction is the right thing to protect the British people and our national security.”

Mauritius Gavin Glover General Prosecutor Said: “Since the question should be heard soon today, it would not be appropriate to make comments.”

The court will examine the case again at 10:30 on Thursday.

The legal actions were filed by two women from Chagosyan, Bernadet Dugas and Bertsy Pompe, who would like to return to live on the islands.

Both in this Agreement and the proposed new transaction, the Chagosia is prevented from returning.

Earlier this year, their lawyer Michael Polak said: “The government’s attempt to distribute the homeland of the Chagosians until he has been able to officially consult a Chagossian is a continuation of their terrible treatment by the authorities in the past.

“They remain people with the closer connection to the islands, but their needs and desires are ignored.”

In his early morning order, the judge said: “The defendant does not take a clear or legitimate step to complete his negotiations on the possible transfer to the British territory of the Indian Ocean, also known as the Chagos Archipelago, to a foreign government or is bound by the specific conditions of such a transfer.”

“The defendant must maintain the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom over the British territory of the Indian Ocean to a more order.”

The order states that the judge provided the order “after consideration of the applicant’s request for a temporary relief made by the court classes” and “after reading the response to the defendants”.

Representatives of the Chagossian Community meet with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Stephen Douti for discussions about sovereignty of the territory.

The meeting was expected to include six representatives from three different groups of Chagossian Community.

“The meeting will be an opportunity to discuss FCDO’s Chagossian projects and the new Chagossian Contact Group,” said the representatives earlier this week without giving further details.

The Chagos Archipelago was separated from Mauritius in 1965, when Mauritius was still a British colony.

The UK has purchased the islands for 3 million pounds, but Mauritius claims to be forced illegally to distribute the islands to gain independence from the UK.

At the end of the 1960s, Britain invited the United States to build a military base on Diego Garcia and removed thousands of people from their homes on the island.

An immigration order issued in 1971 prevented the islanders from returning.

The islands of Chagos themselves – some in Mauritius and the Seychelles, but others living in Crowley in Sussex – do not speak with one voice in the fate of their homeland.

Some are determined to return to live on the isolated islands, some are more focused on their rights and status in the UK, while others claim that the status of the archipelago should not be resolved by outsiders.

Milen Augustine, a member of the Chagossian Community in the UK, said he hoped the deal would not be signed in his current form, stating that he felt excluded from negotiations between the UK and Mauritius over the islands.

“Like Bernadette and Bertris, my father was born to Diego Garcia. It’s my heritage,” she said. “(The judgment of temporary relief) is good. We must have our self -determination … We must have our rights.”

In recent years, the United Kingdom has fallen under an increasing international pressure to return the islands to Mauritius, with the best court of the United Nations and the General Assembly, which have been Mauritius for sovereignty claims.

At the end of 2022, the previous conservative government began negotiations on the territory, but did not reach an agreement until the time it lost the power of the general elections in 2024.

The Labor Government claims that continuing issues regarding the UK’s right to preserve the islands pose a risk to the future of the US and the United Kingdom.

Last week, Defense Minister John Heli said the government should act “to cope with the danger.”

However, proposals have been criticized, with opposition politicians provoking concern about Mauritius’ relatively close relations with China and the amount that the deal will cost.

Following the intervention of the court, the conservative shadow secretary, Pritta Patel, said: “Labor’s Chagos transmission deal is bad for our interests for defense and security, bad for British taxpayers and bad for British Chagos.”

She said the legal intervention was “humiliation for Kayer Starmer and (Foreign Secretary) David Lamie”.

Britain reform leader Nigel Farage said: “Although Chagos Islands have won the Supreme Court order to prevent the islands from dealing with, the government will strive to cancel it.

“Why is Starmer so desperate to distribute the islands? There is no legal need, will cost us approximately 52 billion British pounds and play in China’s hands. Why?”