Britain to return Chagos Islands to Mauritius ending years of dispute

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/03/britain-to-return-chagos-islands-to-mauritius-ending-years-of-dispute

Agreement to hand back UK’s last African colony follows 13 rounds of negotiations and international pressure

35 points · 3 comments · view on lemmy.world

3 Comments

MashedHobbits@lemy.lol · 2 pts · 1y (2 replies)

The UK doesn’t do nice things, what’s the catch?

crumpted@sopuli.xyz · 2 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Overseas colonies are expensive, when they can't be brutally exploited, and the UK doesn't have an expansive global empire to suck the resources from anymore.

It does look like a sticking point here was a strategically significant FOB, Diego Garcia, which will not be handed back over.

So the UK has to suffer another embarrassment that reminds them they're no longer a global superpower, but they also get to save some money, and retain access to an important strategic asset.

They might also get some good press for continuing decolonization, I can't speak to that, as I'm not sure how, or where, they might have felt any real political pressure over this.

Graphy@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1y

I wonder if this changes who gets all that juicy .io money