Diego Garcia is the most important naval base in the Indian Ocean
so the UK needs to cut a deal with Mauritius for a 99-year lease.
Still trying to rule the waves.
Photographer: Finnbarr Webster/Getty Images
Now the two countries are in final negotiations of a vital deal that would turn sovereignty over to the Mauritians but — most important —
allow the US-UK base to remain.
For decades, it has been one of the last overseas land areas claimed by Britain (along with Gibraltar, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands and a handful of others).
Perhaps most important, Diego Garcia is capable of supporting the fleet of long-range strategic bombers — B-1B Lancers, stealthy B-2 Spirits and B-52 Stratofortresses.
All could have a key role in any major attack on Iran.
James Stavridis Bloomberg 5 december 2024
a retired US Navy admiral, former supreme allied commander of NATO
The sun has now officially set on Britain’s African empire
On Thursday, the British government struck a deal with Mauritius, an island country off East Africa, to hand over a cluster of 58 tiny islands in the Indian Ocean
The deal allows the U.K. to retain use of the largest atoll, Diego Garcia, for 99 years in return for an undisclosed sum of money.
That atoll is home to a key U.S. military base and is seen as increasingly strategic when the U.S. is trying to assert its influence in the Indo-Pacific to counter China.
Wall Street Journal 3 October 2024
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