Mauritius considers legal action against UK over Chagos

Mauritius said Thursday it was considering legal redress to force the United Kingdom to hand back the Chagos islands.

Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam said London was delaying ratification of the deal that would see the territory, home to a strategically important naval and bomber base - revert to Port Louis.

Under the agreement, the UK will pay Mauritius 101 million pounds per year to lease back the base for at least 99 years.

The islands have been under British control since 1814. Britain evicted as many as 2,000 people from the islands in the 1960s and 1970s so the US military could build the Diego Garcia base.

The United Nations has opposed the deal saying the islands should return to the Chagossians whom it considers the rightful owners of the land, and not Port Louis.

The UN says the agreement explicitly prevents Chagossians from returning to their ancestral homelands on Diego Garcia.

It says the agreement also does not formally acknowledge past injustices, provide full reparation for harms, or allow the islands to preserve their distinct cultural heritage.