LONDON, Jan 31 – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has called for strong security provisions to protect the U.S.-British military base on Diego Garcia as part of an agreement to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
During a call with Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam, Starmer said any final deal must include safeguards against external threats to ensure the military base continues to operate, Downing Street said in a statement on Friday.
The Chagos Islands, a British-administered archipelago in the Indian Ocean, have been at the center of a diplomatic dispute. In October, Britain agreed to hand over sovereignty to Mauritius while maintaining a 99-year lease on Diego Garcia, the largest island and home to a military installation jointly operated by the United Kingdom and the United States.
The agreement remains in question after Ramgoolam, who took office in November, raised concerns about the terms negotiated by his predecessor. The deal has yet to be ratified.
According to the Downing Street readout, both leaders expressed a shared commitment to finalizing an agreement and pledged to continue discussions in the near future.
The deal faces scrutiny from Washington. The new U.S. administration is reviewing the agreement amid concerns raised by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who warned that transferring the archipelago’s sovereignty to Mauritius—an ally of China—could pose a risk to U.S. security. The base on Diego Garcia is a key strategic outpost for U.S. bombers and warships in the region.
Starmer spoke with U.S. President Donald Trump on January 26, but the call summary did not mention the Chagos Islands.
