Vijay Makhan: Mauritius Must Act Now to Secure Chagos Deal

Vijay Makhan, a former senior diplomat and ex-Assistant Chairperson of the African Union Commission, has called on all parties to stop stalling and move decisively to implement the landmark agreement on the Chagos Islands signed on 22 May 2025.

Speaking to Le Defi Media, Makhan said the accord formally recognises Mauritius's sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, a cluster of islands in the central Indian Ocean that Britain detached from Mauritius in 1965, before independence, to create the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT). The move was later ruled unlawful by the International Court of Justice in a 2019 advisory opinion.

For Makhan, the May 2025 agreement is a historic milestone, but only if it is followed by concrete action. He argued that the period of hesitation and diplomatic back-and-forth must now give way to firm decisions and implementation on the ground.

His comments come against the backdrop of a significant legal development. The Court of Appeal of the British Indian Ocean Territory recently upheld the legality of eviction notices issued to individuals residing on the islands without authorisation. The ruling has added urgency to questions about the future status of the Chagossians, the community originally expelled from the archipelago by British authorities between 1968 and 1973 and now living primarily in Mauritius, the United Kingdom and the Seychelles.

Makhan was careful to insist that moving forward on sovereignty must not come at the expense of the rights and welfare of Chagossian people. He stressed that any implementation of the agreement must fully preserve and protect those rights, reflecting longstanding concerns from Chagossian groups who want a guaranteed right of return and recognition of their unique identity.

The Chagos deal has been years in the making. Negotiations between Mauritius and the United Kingdom began formally in 2022 and were complicated by changes of government in London. The agreement, when it was initialled, also covers the continued operation of the joint UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the archipelago, which both Washington and London regard as strategically vital in the Indo-Pacific region.

What this means: The May 2025 agreement marks the first time Britain has formally accepted Mauritian sovereignty over Chagos. But recognition on paper is not the same as reality on the ground. Makhan's intervention is a signal from within Mauritius's diplomatic establishment that the government must now push hard to translate legal and political gains into practical arrangements, including clarity on Chagossian resettlement rights, administrative control, and the terms governing the Diego Garcia base. The BIOT eviction court ruling adds pressure, as it narrows the window for an orderly, rights-respecting transition.

Source: Le Defi Media