Chagos: London freezes payments and re-examines the agreement, Mauritius still awaits its sovereignty

Sixteen months after its signing, the treaty intended to return the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius remains a dead letter. Concluded with the United Kingdom on May 22, 2025, it has neither been ratified by the British Parliament nor funded: London has frozen the payments planned for Mauritius and is re-examining the text, according to ION News and Al Jazeera.

On September 26, 2026, before the 81st United Nations General Assembly, Mauritian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dhananjay Ramful made a point of reiterating his country's position: "I now come to a matter which, for Mauritius, is non-negotiable. It concerns our sovereignty over the Chagos Islands," he declared, according to ION News.

An agreement suspended in Washington

The deadlock does not stem from Port-Louis. British Defence Secretary Wes Streeting confirmed to the BBC that the agreement "cannot move forward without American support" and that payments were suspended, reports ION News. US President Donald Trump publicly criticized the treaty, describing it in January 2026 as an "act of great stupidity," according to Al Jazeera. The British Parliament had not passed the implementing legislation in April 2026.

During a telephone conversation on September 21, 2026, Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam and his British counterpart Andy Burnham discussed the desire to close "this painful episode for the Chagossians," according to the statement from Port-Louis cited by ION News. Two days later, London spoke more of a "way forward" than of ratification.

Sixty years of injustice

The case is a textbook example of unfinished decolonization. In 1965, Great Britain detached the Chagos from Mauritius, then a colony, before its independence. Between 1968 and 1973, 1,400 to 1,700 Chagossians were deported to make way for the American military base on Diego Garcia, recalls Al Jazeera. In 2019, the International Court of Justice deemed the British presence unlawful; the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea supported Mauritius in 2021.

The treaty provides for Mauritian sovereignty over the archipelago, a 99-year lease for London on Diego Garcia, and possible resettlement on the other islands. For the Chagossians, time has become the decisive variable. "We are getting older, and we have lost several Chagossian elders this year alone," said activist Olivier Bancoult, as quoted by Al Jazeera.

What comes next

Mauritius is demanding ratification and ruling out any renegotiation, while London awaits an American green light. Between the two, a population deported more than half a century ago is still waiting for the recognition of a right already established by the highest international courts.