Descendants of the people of the Chagos Islands have claimed their views are being ignored as the prime minister of Mauritius announced the start of talks with Britain over the territory’s sovereignty.
Pravind Jugnauth, who has led the Mauritian government since 2017, used a new year’s address to reveal that talks with London were under way over the disputed Indian Ocean archipelago.
“The latest developments on the Chagos issue are very encouraging,” he said. “Negotiations between Mauritius and Britain have begun”.
Mauritius, a British colony until its independence in 1968, claims the remote islands as its own territory although it is administered by Britain, which has a joint military base with the US on one of the islands, Diego Garcia.