Overview
- BIOT Chief Justice James Lewis granted a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of removal orders against four returning Chagossians on Île du Coin, giving UK administrators seven days to respond.
- The group, led by Chagossian first minister Misley Mandarin, had been served notices threatening up to three years’ imprisonment or a £3,000 fine, as the Foreign Office branded their landing an illegal and unsafe act.
- President Trump publicly warned the UK not to “give away Diego Garcia,” with reports linking his stance to Britain’s refusal to allow potential US strikes on Iran from UK bases, and ministers have delayed bringing ratifying legislation back to Parliament.
- Reports say Boris Johnson and Liz Truss pressed Trump to oppose the agreement, and critics point to a 1966 UK–US exchange that they argue gives Washington an effective veto over any arrangement affecting the Diego Garcia base.
- The UK–Mauritius deal envisages transferring sovereignty of the archipelago while leasing back Diego Garcia for 99 years at reported costs of roughly £30–£35 billion, though the agreement is now in diplomatic and legal limbo; a planned US visit to support the deal was postponed, and Nigel Farage claims officials tried to block his separate aid mission.