India advocates amicable solution on Diego Garcia

New Delhi: It was for the UK and Mauritius to reach an “amicable” solution on the Diego Garcia Island dispute, government sources said on Friday and asserted that the same was conveyed to British foreign secretary Boris Johnson during his talks with senior officials in New Delhi earlier this week.

“There have been media reports that the visiting British foreign secretary raised the issue of Diego Garcia during his meetings in Delhi on January 18. The issue did come up in his discussions with senior officials. India made it clear that it has a long-standing and principled position on this subject. We also conveyed that it is for Britain and Mauritius to reach an amicable solution on this matter bilaterally,” sources said, adding however that the issue did not come up during Mr Johnson’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as was being projected by some reports.

Media reports from London had claimed earlier that Mr Johnson, who was in India on a three-day visit and attended the “Raisina Dialogue” on January 18, had raised the issue with PM Modi and had sought Indian assistance in resolving current tensions between the UK, the US and Mauritius over the future of the American military base Diego Garcia.

One of the Chagos islands in the Indian Ocean, Diego Garcia, was leased by Britain to the US for the military base two years before Mauritius got independence in 1968. According to reports, the British relocated approximately 2,000 Mauritians living in Chagos to make way for the American base.

The lease expired recently, but has been renewed by London until December 20, 2036, much to the chagrin of Mauritius, which has threatened to take Britain to the International Court of Justice to resolve the dispute.