UK hands sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius Skip to content Site search News Sport Football 2026 Business Technology Health Culture Arts Travel Earth Audio Video Live Weather Newsletters # UK will give sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius 3 October 2024 ShareSave Add as preferred on Google Andrew HardingBBC correspondent Getty Images The UK has announced it is giving up sovereignty of a remote but strategically important cluster of islands in the Indian Ocean after more than half a century. The deal – reached after years of negotiations - will see the UK hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a historic move. This includes the tropical atoll of Diego Garcia, used by the US government as a military base for its navy ships and long-range bomber aircraft. The announcement, made in a joint statement by the UK and Mauritian Prime Ministers, ends decades of often fractious negotiations between the two countries. The US-UK base will remain on Diego Garcia – a key factor enabling the deal to go forward at a time of growing geopolitical rivalries in the region between Western countries, India, and China. - The BBC visits the secretive Chagos