UK Signs Agreement with Mauritius to Retain Control Over Diego Garcia Naval Base

The UK has signed an agreement with Mauritius to secure the future of the strategically critical UK-US military base on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.

 This new deal ensures its continued operation for at least the next century. The base has played a vital role in defending the interests of the UK and its allies for over 50 years.

The cost per year is £101 million and the net present value of payments under the treaty is £3.4 billion, a UK MoD release said.

Negotiations to secure the base started over two years ago, and  13 rounds of talks were held to underpin the deal.

All Five Eyes partners – the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand – back the agreement, along with India.

The base plays a key role in operations that support UK forces and our allies across the Middle East, East Africa and South Asia.

Its deep-water port, airfield, and advanced communications and surveillance capabilities give the UK and its allies crucial strategic capabilities, which have played a key role in missions to disrupt high-value terrorists, including Islamic State threats to the UK.

The deal ensures the UK retains full operational control of Diego Garcia, including management of the electromagnetic spectrum satellite used for communications.

The deal includes robust provisions to keep adversaries out, including:

A 24 nautical mile buffer zone where nothing can be built or placed without UK consent.

No developmental activities on the wider islands – some over 100 nautical miles away unless the UK agrees.

Mauritius and the UK have also agreed to a ban on the presence of foreign forces across the wider territory and a binding guarantee that base operations cannot be undermined.