Chagos Islands: What is the population, location and forgotten history of Islands - as UK blocked from handing over to Mauritius

The territory is administered by a commissioner of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London. Although there is no permanent civilian population on the islands, generally about 4,000 U.S. and British military and contract civilian personnel are stationed there.

The Chagos Islands are located between the Seychelles and the Maldives. The archipelago’s first inhabitants were primarily enslaved people from Madagascar and Mozambique, brought to the islands by French enslavers to work on coconut plantations.

Centuries later, they had unshackled themselves from slavery and become Chagossians, an indigenous people with a distinct language and culture. Nevertheless, in this time, the territory had gone from French to British rule, bringing with them South Asian labourers, and administering the territory jointly with Mauritius.

In 1965, the British convinced Mauritian nationalist politicians to give up their claim to the Chagos Islands in exchange for independence. In 1966, Chagos became the ’British Indian Ocean Territory‘ (BIOT) and was denied any claim to independence.

Mauritius became independent in 1968. Retaining the archipelago as its colony, the UK proceeded to forcibly displace all Chagossians to Mauritius, the Seychelles, and eventually to the UK where they were given the right to British citizenship in 2002.

According to Minority Rights Group, with the help of the United States, Britain secretly forcibly displaced 2,000 people, and shipped around 1,200 of them to Mauritius between 1968 and 1973. The aim of this was to create a strategic military base for both the US and the UK.

The plan was reportedly engineered by the US, who in 1958 had identified Diego Garcia, the atoll’s biggest island, as an ideal location for a base to monitor the Soviet navy. In these secret negotiations, US officials insisted the territory come under their ‘exclusive control (without local inhabitants)’ and transferred $14 million to British officials for the expulsion, which was concealed from both the US Congress and British Parliament.

Chagossians have struggled ever since their expulsion to have their right of return acknowledged by the UK government. In October last year, the UK announced it would give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, stating that Mauritius would ‘now be free to implement a programme of resettlement on the islands of the Chagos Archipelago, other than Diego Garcia.’

This deal allows the estimated 10,000 Chagossians scattered across Mauritius, the Seychelles and the UK to return home, with the exception of Diego Garcia, which will remain a US military base for the next 99 years. However, today (Thursday 22 May), Keir Starmer was blocked from completing the deal.

A late legal challenge from a Chagossian saw High Court judge Sir Julian Goose put a pause on the treaty being signed at 3am this morning following hours of legal wrangling. Bertrice Pompe, who initiated the emergency legal challenge, argued that the treaty would cause irreparable harm and violate fundamental legal and human rights principles.

She is a Chagossian, born on Diego Garcia and expelled at six months old. She grew up in the Seychelles and now lives in London. A British national, Ms Pompe—like thousands of Chagossians from the Seychelles and elsewhere—claims that she stands to gain nothing from the deal with Mauritius unless she applies for Mauritian citizenship.

A fresh hearing is set to take place a 10.30am this morning following the five hour marathon session last night. But it is believed that this may be the first time in legal history that a judge has put a pause on a treaty being signed.