UNITED NATIONS — Britain suffered a diplomatic blow on Thursday as the United Nations General Assembly voted to refer London’s territorial claim to one of its last colonial outposts to an international tribunal for its opinion on the dispute.

Notably, in the wake of Britain’s decision to exit the European Union, many countries of the bloc did not side with Britain. The United States did.

At issue is whether Britain has a claim to a strategically important Indian Ocean archipelago, known as the Chagos Islands. One of the islands, Diego Garcia, is the site of a British-American military base.

Mauritius, a former British colony that gained independence in 1968, says the islands are part of its territory and wants the International Court of Justice to offer its opinion. It casts the British claim as part of an unfinished struggle to free Mauritius from colonial rule.

Britain says its claim to the Chagos Islands is enshrined in an agreement it made with Mauritians in 1965, and it contends that such a bilateral dispute has no business being adjudicated by the tribunal, which operates in The Hague.

(……)

As for the military base, Mr. Jugnauth, currently the defense minister, took pains to say that Mauritius had no problem with it operating on Diego Garcia. “Mauritius is also very much concerned about security in the world and that is why we have repeatedly said that we do not have any problem with the military base, but that our decolonization process should be completed,” he said. “We want to assure the United Kingdom and the United States of America that the exercise of effective control by Mauritius over the Chagos Archipelago would not, in any way, pose any threat to the military base.

—>…   Continue reading the main story from NY Times