Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has asked British Prime Minister Andy Burnham to reopen discussions over the sovereignty of the disputed Chagos Islands, arguing that the Maldives should have been consulted before the United Kingdom agreed to transfer control of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius.
In a letter to Mr Burnham, Mr Muizzu called for “meaningful dialogue” over the islands and said he would welcome an opportunity to discuss the issue while strengthening relations between the two countries. A spokesperson for the Maldivian president said he was “deeply disappointed” that the UK had not consulted the Maldives last year when former prime minister Keir Starmer agreed to cede sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius.
The intervention places the Maldives’ longstanding claim to the Chagos Islands back at the centre of a dispute involving Britain, Mauritius and the strategically important Diego Garcia military base. The islands are home to the US-UK base, which has played a central role in the strategic significance of the territory.
Mr Burnham reportedly intends to proceed with his predecessor’s plan to transfer sovereignty to Mauritius. The British government signed a deal with Mauritius in May 2025 under which sovereignty over the Chagos Islands would be handed to Mauritius, while the UK would pay £35bn to lease back the military base and secure its future.
The British government said the agreement was necessary following an International Court of Justice ruling in favour of Mauritius’s sovereignty claim over the islands. The cost of the agreement would rise by £288m under Treasury reforms introduced by John Healey, according to The Telegraph.
The agreement, however, has not been ratified. US President Donald Trump criticised the arrangement as a “big mistake” and reportedly attempted to buy the archipelago from Mauritius, adding another layer of uncertainty to the future of the islands.
The Maldives argues that it has the “most legitimate claim” to the Chagos Islands because of historic ties between Malé and the archipelago. Mr Muizzu said his government remained committed to a reliable and constructive partnership with the UK, while also seeking to protect what he described as the legitimate interests of the Maldives and its people.
“I would welcome the opportunity to meet and discuss this important issue and enhance relations between our two countries,” Mr Muizzu said in his letter.
His appeal comes shortly before British and Maldivian officials are scheduled to meet on 18 September for the third strategic dialogue between the two countries. The discussions are expected to cover defence, the climate crisis and extremism, giving the two governments an immediate opportunity to address the disagreement alongside broader areas of cooperation.
The British government, however, has signalled that it does not regard the question of Chagos sovereignty as an issue requiring negotiations with Malé. A Foreign Office spokesperson said Britain continued to speak regularly with its Maldivian counterparts on a range of issues, but maintained that sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago was a matter for the UK and Mauritius.
“That is why the previous government launched negotiations with Mauritius on the issue in 2022 rather than with the Maldives,” the spokesperson said.
The contrasting positions expose a fundamental disagreement over who should have a voice in determining the future of the islands. While the UK maintains that its negotiations with Mauritius were grounded in the sovereignty dispute between those two parties, the Maldives insists that its historic relationship with the Chagos Islands gives it a legitimate interest in the outcome.
Mr Muizzu’s request therefore seeks not only to reopen a diplomatic conversation but also to challenge the basis on which the UK has approached the sovereignty question. With the agreement with Mauritius still unratified and the strategic importance of Diego Garcia continuing to shape the dispute, the Maldives is pressing for its concerns to be recognised before the future of the archipelago is settled.
