The British government unsurprisingly wants to draw a line under that sorry history. On October 3rd it announced plans to cede sovereignty over the islands to Mauritius (see Britain section). But the deal is a mistake. It mishandles Britain’s historical obligations and the West’s future military needs in favour of a debatable territorial claim.

The UK has agreed to transfer sovereignty of the largely uninhabited Chagos archipelago to Mauritius. The islands have been known as the British Indian Ocean Territory since being administratively detached in 1965 from what was then the colony of Mauritius.