President-elect Donald Trump is reportedly looking to block the transfer of the Chagos Islands from the U.K. to Mauritius, according to The Independent.
The territory houses a strategic U.S. base.
Rep. Mike Waltz, recently announced as Trump’s National Security Advisor, previously urged the Biden administration to work with your UK counterparts to ensure that our countries retain control of Diego Garcia, as well as make certain that China is prohibited from militarising any of the other islands in the Chagos Archipelago.”
David Lammy, the U.K.’s Foreign Minister, said the transfer agreement was essential for preserving “international security.”
Vanessa Calou, the co-head of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) Citizens platform told The Telegraph that U.K. Prime Minister Kier Starmer’s move to give up the Chagos Islands is a “sneaky agreement.”
“The British Chagossians do not support the agreement on a treaty to surrender the British Indian Ocean Territory to the Mauritian government,” Calou wrote in a statement. “There was no consultation by the current UK Government with the indigenous population to include our views in this agreement.
“With the great victory of Donald Trump in the U.S. election, the United States president-elect is a beacon of hope for the Chagossians population hoping that Donald Trump will stop the treaty U.K. Mauritius on BIOT and grant the indigenous of the Chagos the right to self-determination,” she declared.
