The Chagos islanders who returned to their homeland are seeking assurances that British patrol boats will not block vital food and medical supplies.

NAIROBI, Feb 18 (Reuters) - British authorities on Wednesday issued removal orders against four Chagossians who landed this week on a remote atoll in the Chagos Archipelago in a move they hoped would complicate British plans to transfer the territory to Mauritius.

In May 2025, Secretary of State Marco Rubio assured that the US government, “following a comprehensive interagency review”, had determined that the UK’s planned handover of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius “secures the long-term, stable and effective operation of the joint US-UK military facility”.

A court upholds a challenge about the lawfulness of the orders to remove four men who travelled to the territory.

Four Chagos islanders have landed on one of the Indian Ocean archipelago's atolls to establish what they say will be a permanent settlement, a move they hope will complicate a British plan to transfer the territory to Mauritius.

US President Donald Trump has, in a U-turn, withdrawn US support for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s deal to hand the Chagos Islands ove.

President Donald Trump’s description earlier this month of the UK–Mauritius agreement on the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands as “an act of great stupidity” briefly turned the world’s attention to the remote archipelago.

President Trump has launched an extraordinary attack on Labour’s Chagos Islands deal, just hours after the US Government gave its official backing. In a Truth Social post, Mr Trump said Sir Keir Starmer is making an “extraordinary mistake” by entering a 99-year lease over the archipelago's military base.