Jugnauth thanks PM Modi after UK announces handover of Chagos Islands

Prime Minister of Mauritius Pravind Kumar Jugnauth | Photo: X@KumarJugnauth

1 minute reading Last update: October 5, 2024 | 8:33 IST

Mauritian Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth on Friday thanked his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi for completing our decolonization, a day after the British government announced that it would hand over sovereignty over the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to the country.

Jugnauth went to X to thank Modi as he wrote, Mauritius thanks the African Union @AfricanUnion, the Government of India @narendramodi and all the friendly countries that have supported us in our fight to complete our decolonization.

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On Thursday, Britain announced a historic agreement under which Britain would transfer sovereignty of the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius, while retaining a joint British-American military base on Diego Garcia.

The status of the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), the disputed archipelago of around 60 islands, has been in dispute for many years, with negotiations over its future starting under the previous Conservative Party government in 2022.

Shortly afterwards, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to his Mauritian counterpart Jugnauth to welcome the political agreement reached between the UK and Mauritius on the exercise of sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago after two years of negotiations.

(Only the headline and image of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard team; the rest of content is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)

First publication: October 5, 2024 | 8:33 IST