LONDON (Reuters) – Britain on Friday appointed former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s chief of staff to negotiate ownership of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, home to a major U.S. military base and which Mauritius is seeking to reclaim.
Britain, which has controlled the region since 1814, separated the Chagos Islands from Mauritius (a former colony that became independent three years later) in 1965 to create the British Indian Ocean Territory.
Jonathan Powell has been appointed as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s special envoy to lead negotiations between Britain and Mauritius, which claims it has been illegally stripped of the islands, over who has sovereignty over the territory.
The British government leased the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago, Diego Garcia, to the United States in 1966, paving the way for the construction of an air base that required the forced relocation of some 2,000 people.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said in a statement that he was determined to protect the “long-term” operation of the Diego Garcia military base.
Lammy said Powell, who helped broker a 1998 peace deal in Northern Ireland that ended 30 years of sectarian violence, was well suited to lead such delicate negotiations.
“I look forward to working with him in our efforts to reach an agreement that protects the interests of the United Kingdom and those of our partners,” Lammy said.
Displaced people from the Chagos Islands have lobbied for years to be allowed to return, and a non-binding United Nations General Assembly resolution in 2019 condemned Britain’s occupation of the territory, with most member states demanding it be returned to Mauritius.
The Chagos Refugee Group says those forcibly displaced to Seychelles and Mauritius have faced “extreme hardship and poverty”.
In 2016, Britain’s Foreign Office extended Diego Garcia’s lease until 2036 and declared that the expelled islanders would not be allowed to return.
Diego Garcia became an important US base during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, acting as a launch pad for long-range bombers.