The agreement of the Chagos of the United Kingdom can continue, rules the High Court in London
Unlock the publisher’s digest free
Roula Khalaf, editor -in -chief of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
The High Court of London paved the way for the disputed agreement of Great Britain to put the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands in Mauritius, after a judge initially blocked the agreement a few hours before its signature.
Judge Martin Chamberlain said Thursday that an emergency order granted to 2:25 a.m. “is released from this point”.
The application for injunction was “unprecedented” and would prevent the government from concluding a treaty “in the exercise of a prerogative of the foreign treaty” to which it was entitled, he added.
Chamberlain’s decision was intervened after judge Julian Goose granted a suspension of the agreement in the early hours of Thursday in a case filed by two Chagossian women – led by Bertrice Pompe – against the British Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth & Development.
The agreement implies that Great Britain makes a payment of several billion pounds to maintain access to the Diego Garcia US-UK military base while transferring the sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago in Mauritius.
It was to be signed practically by British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and representatives of the Mauritian government on Thursday.
During a hearing in the case Thursday morning, Philip Rule KC, acting for the principal applicant and speaking from New York, asked the court to extend the “provisional compensation” of the agreement. He argued that the government had not granted “recognition and consideration and provision” appropriate for Chagossian British citizens in its decision -making.
However, Chamberlain criticized the application of the day since the start of the hearing, declaring that it was “not really an appropriate way to plead” and that the principal applicant should have made a request earlier.
The request for “interim help” was made after the applicants reported to the British government in March that they intended to present a complaint, but had difficulty obtaining the necessary funding before the government’s decision to sign the treaty, delaying the case.
Responding to Chamberlain’s decision, the British government said that the agreement was “vital to protect the British people and our national security”.
The Mauritian government did not immediately respond to a request for comments, but before the decision, a government official said that the ministers wanted the agreement to continue.
James Eadie KC, acting for the British government, told court that the plaintiff was looking for something “unknown in legal history” by preventing the government from pointing out a treaty, and that there were “enormous concerns about the risk of the order of the ordined conclusion of the months of negotiation”, which also threatened the national security agreements of the United Kingdom with the United States.
The arrangement planned for a long time for the British Indian Ocean territory has been strongly criticized by the conservative party of the opposition, which accused Starmer of having renounced a key strategic asset and the assistance of taxpayers with significant payments to maintain access.
American arrangement criticisms were stifled under President Donald Trump. The United States and the United Kingdom should keep access to the Diego Garcia base under a 99-year-old lease.
Priti Patel, Shadow Uk Foreign Affairs Secretary, said on Wednesday that the agreement would be “a betrayal of our national interest through work, conveniently timed for the last day before parliamentary recess”.
The signing of the agreement had been delayed until further notice on Thursday after the end of evening request. A press conference with the British defense secretary, John Healey, was suddenly canceled in the early hours.
Outside the court, Jemmy Simon, a pump friend and a British national-chagossian double, criticized the decision to authorize the agreement. “The government does exactly what they did to us 57 years ago … They always do what they want in our life and our future,” she said, referring to the forced displacement of the Chagossians by Great Britain in the 1960s.
David Pilling additional report in London
