After decades of legal battles, Britain has agreed to return the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, a former colony. The remote Indian Ocean archipelago will continue to host a US military base, but

In 1965, as part of the decolonisation process, the UK separated the islands from Mauritius, creating a new colony. From 1968 (when Mauritius gained independence), the UK expelled Chagossians from the islands to pave the way for a US military base it agreed on in 1966.

The U.N. General Assembly followed that opinion with a resolution demanding that Britain end its "colonial administration" of the Chagos Islands and return them to Mauritius. Britain's newly elected Labour government says that without the deal the status of the military base would be under threat from legal challenges.