US President, Donald Trump, has said the plan of the United Kingdom to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius is an “an act of GREAT STUPIDITY”
Trump said the deal , in which the UK would lease a military base on the territory, while handing over sovereignty – is one of the reasons he wants the US to take over Greenland
Writing on Truth Social, Trump said: “Shockingly, our “brilliant” NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER”
The Trump administration has previously backed the deal – in May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio called it a “monumental achievement”
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the 99-year lease on the UK-US military base, after sovereignty is handed over, will cost the UK £101m a year
In a new statement, the UK said it has to hand over the islands because the military base was under threat “after court decisions undermined our position”
Diego Garcia, part of the Chagos Islands and the site of a highly secretive UK-US military base, is one of the most restricted locations in the world.
There are no commercial flights and getting there by sea is no easier – permits for boats are only granted for the archipelago’s outer islands and to allow safe passage through the Indian Ocean.
To enter the island you need a permit, only granted to people with connections to the military facility or the British authority that runs the territory. Journalists have historically been barred.
The island has startling natural beauty, from lush vegetation to pristine white beaches.
While the territory is administered from London, most personnel and resources there are under the control of the US.
Pulling on to the runway alongside grey military aircraft, a sign on a hangar greets you: “Diego Garcia. Footprint of Freedom,” above images of the US and British flags.
Throughout the island, US and UK influences jostle for predominance.
There are British police cars, a nightclub called the Brit Club, and roads with names like Britannia Way and Churchill Road.
But cars drive on the right, as they do in the US, the US dollar is the accepted currency and the electricity sockets are American.
The most sensitive military areas are strictly out of bounds.
