Chagos Islands deal paused by last-minute authorized action-OxBig News Network

The authorities has quickly been banned from concluding talks on the Chagos Islands deal by a last-minute injunction by a High Court choose.

At 02:25 BST Mr Justice Goose granted “interim aid” to 2 Chagossian girls who had introduced a case in opposition to the Foreign Office.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had been anticipated to attend a digital signing ceremony with representatives of the Mauritian authorities on Thursday morning.

The settlement would see the UK hand the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, however enable the UK and US to proceed utilizing a army base situated on the Pacific Ocean archipelago for an preliminary interval of 99 years.

The UK authorities is but to set out the estimated funds the British taxpayer would make to Mauritius as a part of the deal, however it’s anticipated to run into the billions.

Responding to the courtroom injunction, a authorities spokesperson stated: “We don’t touch upon ongoing authorized circumstances. This deal is the best factor to guard the British individuals and our nationwide safety.”

The courtroom will hear the case once more at 10:30 on Thursday.

In his early-morning order, the choose stated: “The defendant shall take no conclusive or legally binding step to conclude its negotiations in regards to the doable switch of the British Indian Ocean Territory, often known as the Chagos Archipelago, to a international authorities or bind itself as to the actual phrases of any such switch.”

“The defendant is to keep up the jurisdiction of the United Kingdom over the British Indian Ocean Territory till additional order.”

The order states that the choose granted the injunction “upon consideration of the claimant’s utility for interim aid made out of courtroom hours” and “upon studying the defendants’ response”.

The authorized motion was introduced by two Chagossian girls, Bernadette Dugasse and Bertrie Pompe.

Earlier this yr, their lawyer Michael Polak stated: “The authorities’s try to offer away the Chagossians’ homeland while failing to carry a proper session with the Chagossian individuals is a continuation of their horrible remedy by the authorities prior to now.

“They stay the individuals with the closest connection to the islands, however their wants and needs are being ignored.”

The Chagos Archipelago was separated from Mauritius in 1965, when Mauritius was nonetheless a British colony.

Britain bought the islands for £3m, however Mauritius has argued it was illegally compelled to offer away the islands with a purpose to get independence from Britain.

In the late Nineteen Sixties Britain invited the US to construct a army base on Diego Garcia and eliminated hundreds of individuals from their properties on the island.

An immigration order, issued in 1971, prevented the islanders from returning.

In latest years, the UK has come below rising worldwide strain to return the islands to Mauritius, with each the United Nations’ prime courtroom and common meeting siding with Mauritius over sovereignty claims.

In late 2022, the earlier Conservative authorities started negotiations over management of the territory however didn’t attain an settlement by the point it misplaced energy within the 2024 common election.