A political crisis unfolding in Mauritius over the Chagos Islands agreement has deepened anxiety in London and Washington that Port Louis ultimately seeks far greater access to, and potential leverage over, the strategically vital military base on Diego Garcia.
While the Mauritian coalition government wrangles over what opponents call “excessive concessions” granted to Britain, the disputes themselves have revealed something more unsettling to Western officials: that even before the UK formally hands over sovereignty, Mauritian leaders are already publicly arguing about who should be allowed near the base, under what conditions, and with what surveillance restrictions.
For British and American policymakers, the spectacle is a jolt. Diego Garcia, jointly operated by the UK and US since the 1970s, is one of the most important military sites on earth, anchoring Western power across the Indian Ocean, and serving as a launchpad for operations from the Middle East to the Pacific.
Yet the internal Mauritian debate makes clear that Port Louis intends not merely to assume sovereignty on paper, but to assert practical authority in ways that could directly affect Western defence operations.
Mauritius’s coalition fractures over access to the base
The Telegraph reports that the Mauritian government has been engulfed by a row about “excessive concessions” being made to the UK on Keir Starmer’s Chagos Islands deal. The country’s deputy prime minister, Paul Bérenger, last week threatened to pull his party from the governing coalition over concerns about the treaty.
According to the reporting, Mr Bérenger objected to strict conservation belts encircling Diego Garcia that would restrict Mauritian citizens’ access to the base. He also raised concerns with Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam about surveillance of maritime routes surrounding the islands.
Labour’s plan to transfer the territory by the end of the year was already delayed after the threat of defeat in the House of Lords, where the Government lacks a majority. Pressure is also mounting from the Great British PAC, which is demanding meaningful Chagossian involvement, and a judicial review by Chagossian Misley Mandarin that is now working its way through the courts.
Under the treaty, signed by Keir Starmer in May, the UK would relinquish sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory and pay Mauritius £30bn of British taxpayer money over 99 years to lease back the base.
For Chagossians, expelled from the islands between 1968 and 1973 by a former Labour government, the treaty is another blow. “Many of them do not want the archipelago to be handed to Mauritius,” the Telegraph notes. In fact a survey of more than 3000 chagossians show over 99% of Chagossians want to remain British.
Chagossian Misley Mandarin added: “In 2012 we were promised self determination by the British Government, but instead the Government has not consulted us, but it will give away our homeland, and take away rights like the ability to claim British citizenship – why are we so unworthy of the right to self-determination? Recognised for all other people on crown dependent lands.”
The marine reserve that also fences off Diego Garcia
Matters escalated on Nov 3 when Mauritius announced the creation of the Chagos Archipelago Marine Protected Area (Campa), one of the world’s largest. Spanning more than 645,000 sq km, the reserve imposes a blanket ban on commercial fishing and divides the territory into four zones.
One of them, a strict conservation belt covering 23,712 sq km around Diego Garcia, would “effectively prevent civilian movement near the military base”.
Mr Bérenger is reportedly willing to resign over the terms. He has accused a “gang of five” within the prime minister’s office of acting behind his back. “One of Paul Bérenger’s main points of contention concerns this sensitive issue: concessions deemed excessive are being made to the British in the final stages of the archipelago’s sovereignty,” reported the Mauritian outlet Defi Media.
A meeting with Mr Ramgoolam last week eased tensions, but senior officials admitted the truce was born out of “necessity”.
Mauritian officials dismiss crisis, blame UK politics
Vijay Makhan, special adviser to the deputy prime minister, denied the coalition is at risk and said Mr Bérenger had not raised concerns about “excessive concessions”.
He then accused UK politicians of attempting to derail the agreement: “The party that initiated the negotiations are now desperately trying to scuttle the agreement based on fabricated narratives,” he said.
Gavin Glover, the Mauritian attorney general, told The Telegraph he would discuss “security and environmental aspects” of the agreement with UK officials in London on Friday.
“We expect to finalise the ancillary agreements to ensure the implementation of the treaty,” he said.
Talks will cover maritime security, the marine protected area, the Chagossian Trust Fund, and even the telephone prefix for Diego Garcia. “The stated objective is to finalise these points by the end of November, before formally drafting them and submitting them for final review,” he added.
A warning signal for the West
To British and American defence officials, the Mauritian political row is more than a domestic squabble. The insistence on asserting access rights, control of conservation zones, and oversight of maritime surveillance, even before sovereignty has transferred, reinforces long-standing fears that Mauritius may one day seek to curtail or reshape Western military use of Diego Garcia.
There are also worries of gifting Chagos to a nation bound by the Pelindaba Treaty (which bans nuclear weapons from transiting its territory), Keir Starmer’s plan could effectively limit the US and UK’s ability to operate freely in a key maritime corridor. Many see it as nothing short of a strategic gift to China.
A former admiral who has served at Diego Garcia said:
“Overnight, Mauritius could block the US and UK from moving nuclear submarines through its waters. It’s a gift to China — it effectively disarms us on that side of the planet.”
For a military base central to US-UK global operations, the implications are profound. While the treaty remains stalled, the arguments now erupting in Port Louis have made one thing unmistakably clear: Mauritius, which is an ally of China, expects to play a direct and assertive role around Diego Garcia, and its political class is already fighting over how far that role should extend.
For London and Washington, that realisation alone is enough to send a chill down the spine.
