For decades, the tiny island nation of Mauritius struggled to win any serious international support on the issue.
A handful of Chagos islanders, who’d been forced to abandon their homes in the late 1960s and early 70s, repeatedly took the British government to court.
But it was only recently that international opinion began to shift.
African nations began to speak with one voice on the issue, pushing the UK hard on the issue of decolonialisation.
Then Brexit left many European nations reluctant to continue backing the UK’s stance in international forums.
The Mauritian government went on the attack, accusing the UK government of verbal threats.
And the Mauritians began to wage an increasingly sophisticated campaign – at the UN, in courts, and in the media – even landing and planting a flag on the archipelago without British authorisation.
The negotiations that brought about Thursday’s deal began under the previous UK government.
But the timing of this breakthrough reflects a growing sense of urgency in international affairs, not least regarding Ukraine, with the UK keen to remove the Chagos issue as an obstacle to winning more global support, particularly from African nations, with the prospect of a second Trump presidency looming.
A backlash from some voices in the UK can be expected, even though successive Conservative and Labour prime ministers have been working towards the same broad goal.
Tory leadership candidate Tom Tugendhat argued the deal had been “negotiated against Britain’s interest” and it was “disgraceful” that such talks had begun under the previous Conservative government.
He called it a “shameful retreat” that leaves “allies exposed”, while the former foreign secretary James Cleverly called it a “weak” deal.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the deal will “address the wrongs against the Chagossians of the past but it looks like it will continue the crimes long into the future”.
There must be meaningful consultations with the Chagossians, Mr Baldwin said, or the UK, US and now Mauritius will be responsible for “a still-ongoing colonial crime,” Clive Baldwin, senior legal advisor at HRW said in a statement.
But there can be no doubting the historic significance of this moment.
Half a century or more after the UK relinquished control over almost all its global empire, it has finally agreed to hand over one of the very last pieces. It has done so reluctantly, perhaps, but also peacefully and legally.
The remaining British overseas territories are: Anguilla, Bermuda, British Antarctic Territory, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Falkland Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat, Pitcairn, Saint Helena, Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands. There are also two sovereign base areas on Cyprus under British jurisdiction.
Following the Chagos announcement, the governor of the Falklands said the islands are safe in British hands.
“The UK’s unwavering commitment to defend UK sovereignty [of the Falklands] remains undiminished”, Alison Blake said in a statement posted to social media, external.
