The Chagos Islands, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, are central to a complex international sovereignty dispute. Both the United Kingdom and Mauritius claim...
The Chagos Islands are an archipelago of seven atolls comprising more than 60 individual islands in the Indian Ocean, about 500 km south of the Maldives.
The controversy stems from the UK's detachment of the islands from Mauritius before its independence in 1968, creating the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). Mauritius asserts its sovereignty, supported by international court rulings.
The Chagossians are the indigenous inhabitants of the Chagos Islands who were forcibly removed by the UK and US governments in the late 1960s and early 1970s to make way for a US military base on Diego Garcia.
The UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice have called for the UK to return the islands to Mauritius. Negotiations between the UK and Mauritius are ongoing, with the UK acknowledging Mauritian sovereignty in principle, but the practical handover is pending.