UK freezes deal to return Chagos Islands to Mauritius

The British government said Saturday it has paused its plans to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius following criticism from US President Donald Trump. The small collection of islands in the Indian Ocean is home to a military base used by both the UK and US. London had agreed a deal to give the islands to its former colony Mauritius last year, but it has since come under attack from Trump.Why is the UK freezing its plan to return the Chagos Islands? Despite first appearing to accept the deal, the US president later called it "an act of great stupidity." It would have seen the UK keep control of the military base on Diego Garcia with a 99-year lease and the option of extension that would allow the US to maintain its operations there. But the deal required formal approval from Washington. "We continue to believe the agreement is the best way to protect the long-term future of ​base, but we have always said we would only proceed with the deal if it has US support. We are continuing to engage with the U.S. and Mauritius," a statement from the British government said. "When the president of the United States is openly hostile, the government has to rethink, so this agreement... will go into the deep freeze for the time being," Simon McDonald, previously the most senior civil servant in the Foreign Office, told BBC radio. What has been the response to the U-turn on the Chagos Islands deal? Mauritius, which lies some 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) to the southwest of the islands, has said it will continue its attempts to take control of the islands. "We will spare no effort to seize any diplomatic or legal avenue to complete the decolonization process in this part of the Indian Ocean," Mauritian Foreign Minister Dhananjay Ramful said. The indigenous Chagossians, 2,000 of whom were displaced in the 1960s and 70s to make way for the military base, also criticized the change of plan. "We ​are astonished to have come to this point. This has been framed mainly ​as a state-to-state issue but the people who have been lost throughout the process are the Chagossians, particularly elders and survivors," spokesperson for the Indigenous Chagossian People campaign group, Toby Noskwith, said. Mauritius: Exiled Chagossians want to return homeTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video UK-US 'special relationship' in tatters Trump's second presidency has seen the so-called "special relationship" between the UK and the US reach historic lows, with the Chagos Islands deal playing a significant role. Trump's falling out with NATO allies, first over Greenland and then over the lack of support for his war with Iran, appears to have taken a particularly large toll on UK-US relations. Amid his first criticism of the Chagos Islands deal in January, Trump said: "There is no doubt that China and Russia have noticed this act of total weakness." He used that as an excuse to justify his ambitions to take Greenland from NATO ally Denmark. London had been reticent to allow the US to use joint bases for attacks on Iran amid questions over the legality of the war. However, Diego Garcia was one of two bases that the US was allowed to use for what the British government has insisted were "defensive operations" during the war with Iran. Trump 'disappointed' with NATO over refusal to join Iran warTo view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Edited by: Jenipher Camino Gonzalez