In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump has described the UK’s plans to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius as “an act of great stupidity”. They are an archipelago in the Indian Ocean, located about 5,800 miles south-east of the UK and 1,250 miles north-east of Mauritius. The deal then was that the islands would return to Mauritius once they were no longer needed for Britain’s defence. A joint UK-US military base was built on the largest of the islands, Diego Garcia. Mauritius takes sovereignty of the islands but the UK maintains an initial 99-year lease of Diego Garcia with an option of extension.

Source: The Guardian January 21, 2026 06:31 UTC