By Elizabeth Piper
NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said on Monday he was determined to find a resolution to the disputed status of a U.S.-British military base on the Indian Ocean island of Diego Garcia.
Britain last year agreed a deal to cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius after more than two centuries of control, while retaining a 99-year lease over its biggest island, Diego Garcia, and its strategic military base.
But the legislation required to implement the agreement was paused because of opposition from the United States with U.S. President Donald Trump describing the deal earlier this year as a “big mistake”.
Speaking to reporters on the way to New York for a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, Burnham said he would work with Mauritius and the United States to find a solution, acknowledging that no agreement had yet been reached.
“We remain determined to secure the long-term operation of the base, which is crucial to our security and that of our allies,” he said.
Earlier, Burnham spoke to his Mauritian counterpart, Navin Ramgoolam, and they agreed their foreign ministers should meet at the U.N. General Assembly, according to a statement from Downing Street.
“The assurance I gave was I will work towards a resolution,” Burnham said. “At the moment we don’t have that, but I gave an assurance that I would commit to working towards one”.
While Britain has already signed the treaty with Mauritius, the bill needed to enact the handover has yet to complete its passage through the British parliament.
Under the deal negotiated by Burnham’s predecessor, Britain would retain control of Diego Garcia base for almost a century in return for payments to Mauritius worth 101 million pounds ($134.99 million) per year – calculated to be worth 3.4 billion pounds over the lifetime of the deal.
($1 = 0.7482 pounds)
(Reporting by Elizabeth Piper; Editing by Kate Holton)
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