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Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasized the importance of a “free, open, secure, and safe” Indian Ocean during his visit to Mauritius
He expressed India’s support for Mauritius' sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago.
Chagos archipelago
It consists of 58 islands and is located approximately 500 km south of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean.
History of the Chagos Archipelago:
The French were the first to colonize Mauritius along with the Chagos Islands in 1715.
In the late 18th century, the French brought in slave labour from Africa and India to work in newly established coconut plantations.
However, the UK took control of the region in 1814 after the fall of France’s Napoleon Bonaparte.
In 1965, the UK constituted the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT), of which the Chagos Islands were a central part.
Chagos was attached to Mauritius, another British colony in the Indian Ocean, for administrative purposes.
When Mauritius gained independence in 1968, Chagos remained with Britain, which gave Mauritius a 3 million pound grant for the "detachment."
In 2019, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an advisory opinion that asked the United Kingdom to unconditionally withdraw its colonial administration from the area within six months.
The ICJ ruled that the 1965 detachment of Chagos from Mauritius before its independence was illegal.
In 2024, United Kingdom (UK) agreed to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius
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