WE ARE 100% INDEPENDENT AND READER-FUNDED. FOR A GUARANTEED AD-FREE EXPERIENCE AND TO SUPPORT REAL NEWS, PLEASE SIGN UP HERE, TODAY.
Brexit leader Nigel Farage has warned British lawmakers that President-elect Donald J. Trump is seriously concerned by the far-left Labour government’s plans to give away the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius. The territory’s islands host a strategic British-American military base.
The Reform Party leader communicated these concerns after discussions at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where he met with Elon Musk and other key figures. During a session in the House of Commons, Farage highlighted the unease within Trump’s forthcoming administration about the long-term implications for the base on Diego Garcia.
“Let me assure you, there is very deep disquiet amongst all of them as to what this may mean for the long-term future of Diego Garcia and whether such a deal would hold, given the precedent of the deal break over Hong Kong,” Farage said. “They also can’t understand why we would surrender the sovereignty of these islands on an advisory judgment for a pretty obscure court,” he added.
Stephen Doughty, a minister in the British Foreign Office, claims the U.S. national security community supports a proposed deal to surrender sovereignty over the Chagos Islands that comprise the territory, claiming a non-binding International Court of Justice ruling that they should be decolonized threatens the future of the base.
MAURITIUS.
The draft plan involves transferring sovereignty to distant Mauritius—against the wishes of the Chagos Islanders the British removed from the territory—while maintaining a 99-year lease for the strategic Diego Garcia base. The base would see Britain make annual payments to Mauritius to facilitate the transfer, and boat migrants present on the islands removed to another British territory.
However, Mauritius’s newly-elected prime minister, Navin Ramgoolam, is already repudiating the agreement, arguing it is not generous enough.
Mauritius is aligned with the Chinese, leading to some fearing that if the deal goes ahead, the Chinese may be able to build their own rival bases on the islands. Farage has also shared similar concerns that giving away the islands will embolden China.
Farage wants a referendum for the Chagos Islanders on the deal.
Image by Gage Skidmore.
show less
Brexit leader Nigel Farage has warned British lawmakers that President-elect Donald J. Trump is seriously concerned by the far-left Labour government’s plans to give away the British Indian Ocean Territory to Mauritius. The territory’s islands host a strategic British-American military base.
show more
show more
