Diego Garcia: sovereignty, displaced people, and strategy

Is returning the British Indian Ocean Territory historically straightforward, and is Mauritius necessarily the right recipient?

Ending British control may be justified, but the history and displacement of the Chagossians leave a genuine question over whether sovereignty should pass to Mauritius, the islanders, or another arrangement.

Returning the territory can be morally and politically justified while leaving open whether Mauritius is the only historically defensible recipient. The islands were administered through British India before later colonial arrangements, and displaced Chagossians were scattered among Mauritius, Britain, India, and elsewhere. That history creates alternatives ranging from Mauritian sovereignty to Chagossian self-government or another settlement. The strategic value of the Diego Garcia base remains important, but strategy does not resolve the underlying question of whose rights should govern the transfer.