The British government has announced it will cede sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, in an agreement that ends decades of dispute over Britain’s last African colony while maintaining a key US-British military base in the archipelago.

Sir Keir Starmer has given up the Chagos Islands, handing the Indian Ocean territory to Mauritius. The islands were British-owned from 1814 but have now been signed away by the Government in a deal that it claimed would safeguard global security by ending a long-running dispute.

The Mauritian government said it’s reached an agreement with the UK regarding the Indian Ocean island nation’s sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago.