UK appoints former PM Blair’s top aide to lead talks on control of Chagos Islands

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LONDON (Reuters) – Britain appointed former Prime Minister Tony Blair’s chief of staff on Friday to negotiate ownership of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean, which are home to a major U.S. military base, and which Mauritius is seeking to reclaim.

Britain, which has controlled the region since 1814, detached the Chagos islands in 1965 from Mauritius – a former colony that became independent three years later – to create the British Indian Ocean Territory.

Jonathan Powell has been appointed as Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s special envoy to lead negotiations between Britain and Mauritius, which claims it was illegally stripped of the islands, over who has sovereignty of the territory.

The British government leased the Chagos archipelago’s biggest island, Diego Garcia, to the United States in 1966, paving the way for construction of an airbase that required the forced removal of some 2,000 people.

British Foreign Minister David Lammy said in a statement he was determined to protect the “long-term” operation of the military base on Diego Garcia.

Lammy said Powell, who helped broker a peace deal in Northern Ireland in 1998 that ended 30 years of sectarian violence, was well suited to carry out the sensitive negotiations.

“I look forward to working with him as we endeavour to reach a settlement that protects UK interests and those of our partners,” Lammy said.

The people displaced from the Chagos Islands have lobbied for years to be able to return, and a non-binding resolution in the United Nations General Assembly in 2019 condemned Britain’s occupation of the territory, with most member states demanding it to be returned to Mauritius.

The Chagos Refugees Group says those forcibly displaced to the Seychelles and Mauritius have faced “extreme hardships and poverty”.

In 2016, Britain’s Foreign Ministry extended Diego Garcia’s lease until 2036, and declared the expelled islanders would not be allowed to go back.

Diego Garcia became an important U.S. base during the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, acting as a launch pad for long-range bombers.