The UK will cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, but indigenous people from a tiny island that houses a US military base shrouded in secrecy will not be allowed to return

Britain on Thursday said it would give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius, but under what President Joe Biden called a "historic agreement" will keep a strategic Indian Ocean military base with the United States.

After years of negotiations, the UK is giving up its sovereignty over a cluster of strategically important Indian Ocean islands. The move has led to criticism from Britain's Conservative opposition and some local Indigenous groups.