Britain hands Chagos Islands, home of secretive US military base, over to Mauritius – POLITICO

LONDON — The U.K. agreed to pass sovereignty of the disputed Chagos Islands to Mauritius after decades of campaigning — with one big caveat.

U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Mauritian counterpart Pravind Jugnauth hailed a "seminal moment" Thursday as a political agreement was struck on the future of the islands, which have been called Britain's last African colony and are home to a crucial U.S. and U.K. military base in the Indian Ocean.

Mauritius' government has long argued it was forced to give the Chagos Islands away in return for its own independence from Britain in 1968. More than 1,000 islanders were forcibly removed at the request of the U.S., with some repeatedly taking the U.K. government to court.