The air base is located on the British territory of the Chagos Archipelago, in the Indian Ocean, which the UN General Assembly decided in 2019 to return to Mauritius.
The Chagos Archipelago, in the Indian Ocean, is made up of seven atolls with more than 60 islands, halfway between Africa and Indonesia, and is considered disputed territory between Great Britain and Mauritius.
Journalists attending the joint press conference between Blinken and Cameron on Thursday were interested in the reaction of senior US and British diplomatic officials to information that appeared in the press about the debate over the Chagos transfer. In particular, according to British media reports, British Defense Minister Grant Shapps wants Britain to abandon plans to transfer the archipelago.
Cameron did not give a concrete answer to this question at the press conference.
Blinken stressed that the air base plays a vital role for the United States in the Indo-Pacific region and for global security.
“It allows us to maintain regional stability, respond quickly to crises and confront some of the most challenging threats we face,” said the US Secretary of State.
“We…recognize British sovereignty over the British Indian Ocean Territory,” Blinken said. “But this is a bilateral issue that the UK and Mauritius must resolve and we support them working together to resolve their differences.”
Britain, which has controlled the region since 1814, seceded in 1965. the Chagos Archipelago of Mauritius, creating the British Indian Ocean Territory. Mauritius, a British colony, gained its independence three years later
In 1966, the British government leased the largest island in the Chagos archipelago, Diego Garcia, to the United States, allowing it to build an air base there, from which some 2,000 people had to be forcibly removed.
Diego García became an important US base during the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, serving as a launching pad for long-range bombers.
In 2008, Britain admitted that the United States was using Diego Garcia to extradite terrorism suspects, although for years it maintained it had no knowledge of such activity.
In 2016, Britain extended Diego Garcia’s lease to the United States until 2036, and some British politicians now want to retain control of the islands for longer.
The case was presented on the legal consequences of the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965. international Court of Justice in The Hague in 2017 at the request of the UN General Assembly.
In February 2019, judges at the International Court of Justice ruled that the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius was illegal and that Britain should stop administering these tropical islands in the Indian Ocean.
In 2019, the African Union called on Britain to withdraw from the Chagos Islands and end its “continuous colonial administration” there after a UN deadline to do so expired.
