As we all know by now the Government has been desperately trying to reach a deal with Mauritius to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago, also known as the British Indian Ocean Territory - but - and here’s the crucial but - whist retaining control of the crucial UK US military base, Diego Garcia.
It’s hard to stress just how important Diego Garcia is. How crucial it is to global security. The strategic location of this base allows for vital global reach for the Western alliance.
The British government understands how important this base is, which explains the fervent negotiations that have been taking place to retain the base.
It explains how these negotiations could set the British taxpayer back by up to £18 billion. An astonishing amount of money.
We can all see the base is important. But the bizarre fact in all of this is that the negotiations appear to be kicking off from a starting point of losing the islands.
Losing the islands, and then clawing back the base, for a time limited period.
It sounds like an extraordinarily bad deal. Why are we starting from here? Why is the government falling over itself to shell out up to £18 billion pounds of your money simply to keep something we already have for free.
Why has the Government been so desperate to send so much money overseas for a base on islands we already own?
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
Well today, finally. The government produced a reason. Ministers had been bizarrely tight lipped until this lunchtime when the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson finally spilled the internal beans.
Yes, Number 10 says it all comes down to the electromagnetic communications system at the base.
Stay with me here. The satellite and radio communications systems the base relies on MAY not be able to operate without legal certainty, argue the government.
This is because the divvying up of the electromagnetic spectrum that facilitates this high tech communication is governed by a UN agency called the International Telecommunication Union, based in Switzerland.
The government fears, that the International Telecommunication Union will take an advisory ruling of the International Court of Justice as binding. As both the ITU and the ICJ are UN bodies.
Now this International Court of Justice ruling was decided back in February 2019, which found that the United Kingdom must end its administration of the Chagos Islands as rapidly as possible.
This ruling came after the United Nations General Assembly voted 94 to 15 to to refer what the motion described as a territorial dispute between the UK and Mauritius to the ICJ to adjudicate.
Less than half of the countries that are UN members voted to refer the case, but as most countries simply didn’t bother to vote one way or the other, the case was referred in 2017.
Fast forward to 2019 and the ICJ tells Britain it must end its administration of the Chagos Islands. It rules that the sun must set on the British empire, quotes “as rapidly as possible.”
And yet, that was six years ago. The government of Boris Johnson simply refused to recognise the ruling.
Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan told the House of Commons the following: “We have concluded that the approach set out in the advisory opinion failed to give due regard to material facts and legal issues that the UK Government explained in detail in our submissions to the ICJ. For instance, it did not take account of the 1965 agreement with Mauritius or the numerous affirmations of that agreement made by Mauritius since independence. Furthermore, it fails to address the fact that the UK and US have entered into a binding treaty obligation to maintain UK sovereignty over the whole territory until at least 2036.”
Sir Alan, speaking for the government continued: “When the UN General Assembly voted on the matter in May this year, following the ICJ advisory opinion, we fully expected a large number of member states to support the resolution in Mauritius’ favour, framed as it was around the emotive theme of decolonisation. However, it is important to note that nearly 80 member states did not vote in favour of the resolution. Many of them shared our concern that Mauritius had circumvented the principle that the ICJ should consider bilateral disputes only with the consent of the states. Furthermore, some states explained publicly that they had voted in favour of the resolution out of respect for the ICJ and not necessarily because they agreed with the substance of the resolution.”
Yes the British government under Prime Minister Boris Johnson took issue with the advisory ruling and refused to implement it. And…. Nothing happened.
The UN did not strip the Diego Garcia base of its rights to satellite communication. Life went on. Until 2022 when the British Government under Liz Truss, reportedly in efforts to bring a coalition of African countries into the fold of a global sanctions regime on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, acknowledged the advisory ICJ ruling and began negotiations with Mauritius.
The Conservative Party now says that a year later these negotiations were shut down by then foreign secretary David Cameron, as the demands of Mauritius crossed red lines.
Fast forward to the summer of 2024, and the new Labour Government restart negotiations. We know know thanks to internal concerns over satellite communication.
But is the government being taken for a ride here? Or are they overreacting to overly legalistic speculation? Speculation that ignores the reality of hard power and bigger army diplomacy?
This is after all a military base used by the world’s sole superpower we are discussing here.
Is the advice in this case coming from lefty lawyers, or genuine military strategists. How could Boris Johnson’s government seemingly ignore the ruling with no consequences for the operational security of the base?
And what role does the decades long friendship Prime Minister Keir Starmer has with Philippe Sands KC - the man who is acting as the lawyer for the Mauritian government - what role does their strong friendship play in all of this?
We have to ask ourselves, would the International Telecommunication Union really strip this significant UK US base of its communications? Boris Johnson’s government clearly believed that it would not.
And there is one more thing to consider here. Could this all be a ploy by China to assert greater influence over the islands?
It is well known that China has been developing investment partnerships in African countries winning favour, exerting economic control, and winning votes in forums like the UN.
China would love nothing more than the British to lose control of these crucial islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean. They would love nothing more to establish a presence on those islands for China.
It’s worth looking back to a report by Parliament’s powerful and respected Intelligence and Security Committee in 2023, which found that China the International Telecommunication Union was an organisation “in which China has acquired disproportionate influence, including numerous leadership positions.”
Has the ITU pulled the wool over the British Government’s eyes? And is China taking us for fools? Has the British government fallen for a bluff or a trap?
One of the most frustrating elements of this entire process is we keep learning about this deal by what is happening in the Mauritian Parliament more than the British Parliament.
The Foreign Office is refusing to release details of the negotiation to British lawmakers, while Mauritian lawmakers learn every step of the way.
Find Out More...
It’s hard to stress just how important Diego Garcia is. How crucial it is to global security. The strategic location of this base allows for vital global reach for the Western alliance.
The British government understands how important this base is, which explains the fervent negotiations that have been taking place to retain the base.
It explains how these negotiations could set the British taxpayer back by up to £18 billion. An astonishing amount of money.
We can all see the base is important. But the bizarre fact in all of this is that the negotiations appear to be kicking off from a starting point of losing the islands.
Losing the islands, and then clawing back the base, for a time limited period.
It sounds like an extraordinarily bad deal. Why are we starting from here? Why is the government falling over itself to shell out up to £18 billion pounds of your money simply to keep something we already have for free.
Why has the Government been so desperate to send so much money overseas for a base on islands we already own?
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Well today, finally. The government produced a reason. Ministers had been bizarrely tight lipped until this lunchtime when the Prime Minister’s official spokesperson finally spilled the internal beans.
Yes, Number 10 says it all comes down to the electromagnetic communications system at the base.
Stay with me here. The satellite and radio communications systems the base relies on MAY not be able to operate without legal certainty, argue the government.
This is because the divvying up of the electromagnetic spectrum that facilitates this high tech communication is governed by a UN agency called the International Telecommunication Union, based in Switzerland.
The government fears, that the International Telecommunication Union will take an advisory ruling of the International Court of Justice as binding. As both the ITU and the ICJ are UN bodies.
Now this International Court of Justice ruling was decided back in February 2019, which found that the United Kingdom must end its administration of the Chagos Islands as rapidly as possible.
This ruling came after the United Nations General Assembly voted 94 to 15 to to refer what the motion described as a territorial dispute between the UK and Mauritius to the ICJ to adjudicate.
Less than half of the countries that are UN members voted to refer the case, but as most countries simply didn’t bother to vote one way or the other, the case was referred in 2017.
Fast forward to 2019 and the ICJ tells Britain it must end its administration of the Chagos Islands. It rules that the sun must set on the British empire, quotes “as rapidly as possible.”
And yet, that was six years ago. The government of Boris Johnson simply refused to recognise the ruling.
Foreign Office Minister Sir Alan Duncan told the House of Commons the following: “We have concluded that the approach set out in the advisory opinion failed to give due regard to material facts and legal issues that the UK Government explained in detail in our submissions to the ICJ. For instance, it did not take account of the 1965 agreement with Mauritius or the numerous affirmations of that agreement made by Mauritius since independence. Furthermore, it fails to address the fact that the UK and US have entered into a binding treaty obligation to maintain UK sovereignty over the whole territory until at least 2036.”
Sir Alan, speaking for the government continued: “When the UN General Assembly voted on the matter in May this year, following the ICJ advisory opinion, we fully expected a large number of member states to support the resolution in Mauritius’ favour, framed as it was around the emotive theme of decolonisation. However, it is important to note that nearly 80 member states did not vote in favour of the resolution. Many of them shared our concern that Mauritius had circumvented the principle that the ICJ should consider bilateral disputes only with the consent of the states. Furthermore, some states explained publicly that they had voted in favour of the resolution out of respect for the ICJ and not necessarily because they agreed with the substance of the resolution.”
Yes the British government under Prime Minister Boris Johnson took issue with the advisory ruling and refused to implement it. And…. Nothing happened.
The UN did not strip the Diego Garcia base of its rights to satellite communication. Life went on. Until 2022 when the British Government under Liz Truss, reportedly in efforts to bring a coalition of African countries into the fold of a global sanctions regime on Russia following the invasion of Ukraine, acknowledged the advisory ICJ ruling and began negotiations with Mauritius.
The Conservative Party now says that a year later these negotiations were shut down by then foreign secretary David Cameron, as the demands of Mauritius crossed red lines.
Fast forward to the summer of 2024, and the new Labour Government restart negotiations. We know know thanks to internal concerns over satellite communication.
But is the government being taken for a ride here? Or are they overreacting to overly legalistic speculation? Speculation that ignores the reality of hard power and bigger army diplomacy?
This is after all a military base used by the world’s sole superpower we are discussing here.
Is the advice in this case coming from lefty lawyers, or genuine military strategists. How could Boris Johnson’s government seemingly ignore the ruling with no consequences for the operational security of the base?
And what role does the decades long friendship Prime Minister Keir Starmer has with Philippe Sands KC - the man who is acting as the lawyer for the Mauritian government - what role does their strong friendship play in all of this?
We have to ask ourselves, would the International Telecommunication Union really strip this significant UK US base of its communications? Boris Johnson’s government clearly believed that it would not.
And there is one more thing to consider here. Could this all be a ploy by China to assert greater influence over the islands?
It is well known that China has been developing investment partnerships in African countries winning favour, exerting economic control, and winning votes in forums like the UN.
China would love nothing more than the British to lose control of these crucial islands in the middle of the Indian Ocean. They would love nothing more to establish a presence on those islands for China.
It’s worth looking back to a report by Parliament’s powerful and respected Intelligence and Security Committee in 2023, which found that China the International Telecommunication Union was an organisation “in which China has acquired disproportionate influence, including numerous leadership positions.”
Has the ITU pulled the wool over the British Government’s eyes? And is China taking us for fools? Has the British government fallen for a bluff or a trap?
One of the most frustrating elements of this entire process is we keep learning about this deal by what is happening in the Mauritian Parliament more than the British Parliament.
The Foreign Office is refusing to release details of the negotiation to British lawmakers, while Mauritian lawmakers learn every step of the way.
Find Out More...