UK's Burnham Seeks Diego Garcia Resolution With Mauritius — SkimNews
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- Andy Burnham spoke with Mauritian PM Navin Ramgoolam on Monday, pledging to work toward a resolution over the disputed status of the U.S.-British military base on Diego Garcia.
- Britain last year agreed to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after more than two centuries of control while retaining a 99-year lease on Diego Garcia and its military base.
- Britain has signed the treaty with Mauritius, but the bill needed to enact the handover has yet to complete its passage through the British parliament.
- Donald Trump earlier this year called the deal a "big mistake," and U.S. opposition caused the implementing legislation to be paused.
- Both leaders agreed their foreign ministers should meet at the U.N. General Assembly in New York this week, according to a Downing Street readout of the call.
- Under the deal negotiated by Burnham's predecessor, Britain would retain control of the strategically important Diego Garcia base for almost a century, preserving military operations there.
Why it matters: Diego Garcia hosts a strategically vital U.S.-British military base in the Indian Ocean, and Britain cannot implement the treaty it has already signed until Trump's opposition lifts and the bill clears Parliament — meaning the next 99 years of base operations hinge on whether UNGA-week diplomacy produces a compromise Washington accepts.
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