Maldives urges UK to resume Chagos Islands sovereignty talks

Maldives President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has written to British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urging that the United Kingdom refrain from transferring sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius. In the letter, Solih argued that the handover could destabilise regional security and set a precedent for altering colonial-era boundaries without the consent of all affected parties, emphasizing the Maldives’ interest in maintaining the status quo in the Indian Ocean.

The request comes amid a long‑running dispute in which Mauritius claims the Chagos Islands—home to the U.S. military base on Diego Garcia—were unlawfully detached from its territory when the UK created the British Indian Ocean Territory in 1965. An International Court of Justice advisory opinion in 2019 declared the separation illegal, and the United Nations General Assembly subsequently called for the islands’ return to Mauritius. The Maldives’ intervention adds another voice to the diplomatic debate as the UK prepares to finalize the handover, a move that has drawn criticism from several Indian Ocean nations.