Group of Peers Plan to Force Referendum on Handover of Chagos Islands

Diego Garcia, the largest island in the Chagos Archipelago and site of a major United States military base in the middle of the Indian Ocean leased from Britain in 1966. File Photo

A group of peers plan to force the government to hold a referendum of Chagossians over the handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

The group, led by former Conservative minister Lord Henry Bellingham, will table an amendment to the treaty formalising the transfer of the British Overseas Territory, when it reaches the House of Lords.

Bellingham told the PA news agency, “The Government have promised there was going to be consultation of the Chagossians, but that is not happening.”

The peer, who was the minister for overseas territories under former prime minister David Cameron, said he had seen a “huge amount of anger” among Chagos islanders in the UK.

The Conservative peer said the government had shown “absolutely no sign” of how they would consult Chagossians, “and the only way to consult them is actually to have a referendum, because they’re spread out in different places, and they’ve made no effort really.”

There are around 3,500 Chagossians in the UK. Holding a referendum would require the British government to hold a worldwide awareness campaign, to ensure that anyone else from the Chagos Islands can take part in the vote.

Bellingham said Conservative peers are “absolutely 100 percent determined to stop this,” adding that he believed a lot of crossbenchers and non-affiliated peers are of the same mind.

He said if the government tries to put the treaty through Parliament, “then what we’ll do is we will use parliamentary procedure to add a provision to the treaty to allow for a referendum.”

The government has not outlined the schedule for when the treaty will go through Parliament, but said it would happen after it is signed and Mauritius holds its elections.

New Government in Mauritius

Last week the ruling Militant Socialist Movement, led by outgoing Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth, lost the Mauritian election in a resounding defeat, failing to win a single seat.

Opposition leader Navin Ramgoolam became the new prime minister after his Alliance de Changement coalition gained 60 out of the 62 national assembly seats with 62.6 percent of the votes.

Jugnauth’s government had a close relationship with China, and in September, the Bank of Mauritius and the People’s Bank of China signed a bilateral currency swap agreement. The two countries also signed a free trade agreement, which came into force in 2021.

The UK’s former Conservative government had initiated negotiations with Mauritius over sovereignty claims to the British Indian Ocean Territory in November 2022, following international pressure.

The International Court of Justice, the UN’s highest court, had ruled that the UK’s administration of the territory, which had lasted two centuries, was “unlawful” and must end.

In December 2023, Conservative MP Daniel Kawczynski told The Epoch Times it would be a mistake to hand over the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius, which he had described as a “client puppet state of China.”

Issue Resolved Between States

Responding to the peer’s remarks, an FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office) spokesperson said: “International legal cases have concluded that this was an issue that needed to be resolved between states.

“The negotiations were between the UK and Mauritius with our priority being to secure the full operation of the base on Diego Garcia. However, we recognise the importance of the islands to Chagossians as well as the different views within the Chagossian community on their future.”

The FCDO spokesperson said that as part of the agreement, Mauritius will be able to operate a resettlement programme for the islands—barring Diego Garcia—and the UK will finance a new trust fund for Mauritius in support of Chagossians.

“We regularly engage with members of the Chagossian community on a range of issues and will continue to do so,” the spokesperson said.

Diego Garcia

The government announced its decision to hand over sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius last month, but said the status of the U.S. military base on the island of Diego Garcia will be preserved.

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Oct. 3: “Today’s agreement secures this vital military base for the future.

“It will strengthen our role in safeguarding global security, shut down any possibility of the Indian Ocean being used as a dangerous illegal migration route to the UK, as well as guaranteeing our long-term relationship with Mauritius, a close Commonwealth partner.”

The United States has had a presence on the island since 1966. Around 2,000 Chagossians were forcibly relocated to the UK in the 1970s to clear the way for the expansion of the air base.

Mauritius became independent in 1968, but it has always claimed it was forced to give up the Chagos Islands as a condition of being released from the British Empire.

PA Media and Chris Summers contributed to this report.