Background
The Chagos Archipelago is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean comprising the seven atolls with over 1,000 individual islands, many very small, amounting to a total land area of 60 square kilometres (23 square miles). [2] The islands were uninhabited until 1793, when the first successful colony was founded on Diego Garcia. Coconut plantations were established on many of the atolls and isolated islands of the archipelago. Initially the workers were enslaved Africans, but after 1840 they were freemen, many of whom were descended from those earlier enslaved. They formed a mixed culture called Ilois or Chagossians. [3] Between 1810 and 1968, the islands were governed as part of the colony of British Mauritius.
In 1968, the British government separated the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius prior to Mauritius's independence, creating a new colony of the British Indian Ocean Territory, from which they expelled the entire Chagossian population, numbering about 2,000 people, to Mauritius and Seychelles, in order to build a Joint Military Facility of the United Kingdom and the United States on the largest island of the archipelago, Diego Garcia. [4] The only inhabitants are British and United States military personnel, and associated contractors, who collectively number around 3,000 (2018 figures). [2] The islands are off-limits to Chagossians, tourists, and the media.
In 2022, the British government launched a British citizenship route for Chagossians, following which many Chagossians moved from Mauritius to the UK, primarily settling in the town of Crawley. [5]
Since the 1980s, the Government of Mauritius sought to gain control over the Chagos Archipelago. A February 2019 advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice called for the islands to be given to Mauritius. Negotiations between the then Rishi Sunak led Conservative UK government and Mauritius began in November 2022, and culminated in a treaty was signed on 22 May 2025 under the Keir Starmer led Labour government to formally transfer the sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius should it come into effect, while the Diego Garcia military base remains under British control during a 99-year lease. [6] [7] The UK government expects the treaty to be ratified sometime in 2026. [8]
The Chagossian community was not consulted in the negotiations between the UK and Mauritius, and many of them opposed the agreement because of the lack of consultation with their community and the lack of any guarantee that Chagossian people will be able to return to the islands. [5]
In December 2025, the Great British Political Action Committee organised an election to determine the formation of a government-in-exile, independently overseen by polling firm Whitestone Insight, with all Chagossians worldwide eligible to participate. [1]
1,341 people voted in the election. 1,233 respondents supported the formation of a government-in-exile with 108 opposed. 1,326 people voted for Misley Mandarin to serve as interim First Minister for a period of a year, during which period a Charter would be drafted and formal elections prepared. [9]
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