Forgive me for returning in this column to Diego Garcia. The issue is too important to shrug aside: important not only in itself, in defence terms and in the immediate, but in the longer-term lesson this has for Britain in our relationship with the United States; and there is a new rumour to report, and more to say.
America is having a laugh. Washington – not China, not the International Court of Justice, not Mauritius and not particularly Donald Trump – is the problem here, and the author of Britain’s present difficulty. America is hiding behind our skirts and leaving Britain to face the flak. But it is they, not we, who need the territory and it is they who should pay for it.
A fortnight ago I wrote here about the impasse with Mauritius, the United States and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and suggested a way through: so obvious that it seemed surprising nobody had thought of it. So was there a catch? It turns out there was. We’ll come to that in a moment.
This column’s suggestion was simple. Give the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) back to Mauritius on the understanding that Mauritius will sell it to the United States. The islands are more than a thousand miles from Mauritius and uninhabited bar the US/British base on Diego Garcia. So we’re talking about real estate, not human rights – but real estate of immense value to Washington and little use to Mauritius or indeed to us. For a base of eye-watering importance to the Pentagon, Mauritius should be able to get an eye-watering price for the BIOT.
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