Al Mayadeen English

Chagos deal: Decolonization in name, exploitation in practice

While many celebrated Britain's "historic" return of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in May 2025, the devil remains in the details. This isn't the decolonization victory headlines proclaimed, it's a masterclass in modern imperial rebranding that maintains Western military dominance while appearing progressive on paper. The real story lies in what the treaty doesn't change: 10,000 Chagossians still can't return home, Diego Garcia remains America's most strategic military outpost, and Britain just paid £9 billion for a 99-year lease to continue what began as ethnic cleansing in the 1970s. It seems that the most effective colonialism is the kind that gets branded as its opposite.