Blow for Starmer as Mauritius PM rejects Chagos deal and demands talks reopen
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Mauritius PM Dr Navin Ramgoolam has pulled the plug on Starmer’s Chagos Islands deal and demanded new talks. it comes hours after the UK government claimed in a written parliamentary answer today that he had written to provide assurances he would go ahead with the agreement.
Keir Starmer has been dealt a fresh blow over his controversial plan to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The prime minister of Mauritius Dr Navin Ramgoolam has announced that the deal is “not good enough” and wants to reopen talks. Embarrassingly, the announcement came within hours of a written parliamentary answer from the Foreign Office (FCDO) claiming that Dr Ramgoolam had written to confirm he was happy with the arrangement.
The deal had already drawn concerns from incoming US president Donald Trump whose transition team had been looking at ways of vetoing the deal. The islands are the home to the highly secretive UK/ US airbase on Diego Garcia. There had also been concerns that Mauritius would allow China to build a base on one of the other islands.
Additionally, it was still not clear whether nuclear weapons would be allowed at Diego Garcia if Mauritius owned the island because it is part of the nuclear weapons-free zone treaty. Dr Ramgoolam, who was elected after the deal was initially agreed with the previous Mauritian government, rejected the current terms as they “would not produce the benefits that the nation could expect.”.
