British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the agreement secures the vital military base at Diego Garcia, the largest in the chain of islands off the tip of India, for the future.

The UK has announced it is giving up sovereignty of a remote but strategically important cluster of islands in the Indian Ocean after more than half a century.T...

The deal will allow people displaced decades ago to make way for an airbase to return home.

Agreement secures future of Diego Garcia military base, with U.K. handing sovereignty of Chagos Islands to Mauritius.

Britain said on Thursday it would give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a deal that would allow people displaced decades ago to return home while London retains use of the UK-US military base on Diego Garcia.

"Today's deal secures this vital military base for the future ," said British Foreign Secretary David Lammy.

The Chagos Archipelago consists of approximately 58 small, flat islands located in the central Indian Ocean. India had earlier reaffirmed support to Mauritius over on the issue of the Chagos Archipelago, which was widely appreciated by the island nation.

Mauritius and the UK have been in dispute over the Indian Ocean islands for the past 50 years.

In a historic move, the UK gives up sovereignty of a strategic group of islands in the Indian Ocean.

The U.K. has agreed to hand sovereignty of the long-contested Chagos Islands, an archipelago of more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius, in a deal to secure the future of a strategically important U.K.-U.S. military base at...