Britain has agreed to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius
The Chagossians seem set to benefit less than China
Few places in the world are quite so remote as the 60 or so islands that make up the Chagos Archipelago. Africa sits 3,000km to the west, Indonesia 3,000km to the east; the nearest large land mass is Sri Lanka, 1,700km to the north-east. More than 50 types of shark live in its pristine reefs. But the archipelago’s main resident is much more lethal: a military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island, leased to America by Britain since the 1970s.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “Oceans apart”
Britain October 12th 2024
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- The Sue Gray saga casts doubt on Keir Starmer’s managerial chops
- Britain has agreed to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius
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- Britain’s obsession with baked beans
- Britain’s last imperialists
From the October 12th 2024 edition
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