The UK government has offered to frontload a tranche of payments to Mauritius to finalise the draft deal over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands. Insiders say Britain is offering to pay Mauritius about £90mn a year for the initial 99-year lease of Diego Garcia, the main atoll in the Indian Ocean archipelago, which hosts a strategically crucial UK-US military base. London has issued a new proposal to pay an initial tranche covering several years’ worth of payments as a sweetener to finalise the stalled deal before Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20. It is seen as a compromise between the new Mauritian administration’s demand to increase the financial settlement underpinning the draft agreement, and the UK government’s refusal to increase the overall cost of the 99-year lease.
Source: FINANCIAL TIMES
