“The object of the exercise,” remarked the UK Permanent Under-Secretary in 1966, “was to get some rocks which will remain ours; there will be no indigenous population except seagulls who have not yet got a Committee (the Status of Women does not cover the rights of Birds).” But the base retained its “vital role in regional and global security” and the UK would effectively be exercising the sovereign rights of the Mauritian authorities for 99 years as part of a lease “to ensure the continued operation of the base well into the next century.” To palliate the bruising concession by Mauritius, Britain promised it “a package of financial support”. Stretching the truth, as is his wont, Trump huffed that “our ‘brilliant’ NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital US Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER.” China and Russia, he went on to say, would have noticed.
Author: Dr. Binoy Kampmark
Published at: 2026-02-01 23:09:56
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