By Muvija M and Michael Holden
LONDON (Reuters) -Britain can conclude a deal with Mauritius on the future of the Chagos Islands on Thursday after a judge at London’s High Court overturned an eleventh-hour injunction which had blocked the agreement being signed earlier.
Lawyers representing a British national born in the Chagos Islands were granted an interim injunction in the early hours of Thursday morning, postponing the formal signing of a treaty that aims to secure the future of the strategically-important U.S.-UK Diego Garcia air base.
But Judge Martin Chamberlain lifted the injunction following a hearing later on Thursday, clearing the way for Britain to sign the multi-billion-dollar deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
The deal, the details of which were first announced in October, would allow Britain to retain control of the air base on Diego Garcia, the largest island of the archipelago in the Indian Ocean, under a 99-year lease.
Following the court’s decision to overturn the injunction, the agreement is due to be signed off later.
James Eadie, the government’s lawyer, said it needed a decision by 1200 GMT in order for the deal to be sealed on Thursday and “everyone is standing by”.
He said the delay was damaging to British interests and “there is jeopardy to our international relations … (including with) our most important security and intelligence partner, the U.S.”
In 1965, Britain detached the Chagos Islands from Mauritius – a former colony that became independent three years later – to create the British Indian Ocean Territory.
NATIONAL SECURITY
The earlier injunction had been granted following action by Bertrice Pompe, a British national who was born in Diego Garcia and has criticised the deal for excluding Chagossians.
A spokesperson for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the deal was the right way to protect the Diego Garcia joint military base.
“The legal challenge is an example of what this government would face without a deal, which would only jeopardise our operations and provide a threat to our national security,” the spokesperson said.
The injunction was the latest legal action in the last two decades brought by members of the wider Chagossian diaspora, many of whom ended up in Britain after being forcibly removed from the Indian Ocean archipelago more than 50 years ago.
They have said they cannot endorse an agreement they were not consulted on, while critics have also said the deal plays into the hands of China, which has close trade ties with Mauritius.
Starmer’s political opponents have been highly critical of the accord, arguing that it was both costly and damaged Britain’s national security.
“Labour’s Chagos Surrender Deal is bad for our defence and security interests, bad for British taxpayers and bad for British Chagossians,” Conservative Party foreign affairs spokeswoman Priti Patel said on X.
The financial component of the deal includes 3 billion pounds to be paid by Britain to Mauritius over the 99-year term of the agreement, with an option for a 50-year extension and Britain maintaining the right of first refusal thereafter.
The base’s capabilities are extensive and strategically crucial. Recent operations launched from Diego Garcia include bombing strikes on Houthi targets in Yemen in 2024-2025, humanitarian aid deployments to Gaza and, further back, attacks on Taliban and al-Qaeda targets in Afghanistan in 2001.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who took office in January, indicated his backing for the deal in February after meeting Starmer in Washington, following some uncertainty over his administration’s support. Trump’s predecessor Joe Biden had backed the agreement.
(Reporting by Muvija M, Michael Holden and Sam Tobin in London and Mike Stone in Washington; editing by William Schomberg, Elizabeth Piper, Hugh Lawson, William James and Mark Heinrich)
