On May 22, 2025, the United Kingdom and the Republic of Mauritius signed a landmark transfer agreement to return sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, concluding three years of direct negotiations. If ratified, the deal would end a fifty-year dispute rooted in the power projection capabilities of global powers and open a new chapter in the geopolitics of the Indian Ocean, where strategic competition is intensifying.
The Chagos Islands are an archipelago comprising over 60 islands grouped into seven major atolls, along with several additional submerged atolls and banks, located about 500 kilometers south of the Maldives. Their location—roughly equally distant from the eastern coast of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian subcontinent, and Southeast Asia—gives them a unique strategic importance. for controlling regional sea lanes and projecting power. At the heart of this strategic geography is Diego Garcia, the largest atoll, which hosts a
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