Thursday’s agreement on Britain’s handover to Mauritius of the Chagos Islands—home to the UK-US joint Diego Garcia military base—ends a long and ugly colonial-cum-cold war chapter of illegal occupation. Under the deal, London will cede sovereignty of the Indian Ocean Archipelago to Port Louis while retaining the territory on a 99-year lease at an annual average cost of 101 million pounds. The bilateral pact is consequent to a landmark February 2019 International Court of Justice (ICJ) unequivocal advisory opinion.

The court declared as unlawful the 1965 forcible detachment of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius and its incorporation into a new colony, namely the British Indian Ocean Territory. In particular, the removal of Chagossians from the........

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