The U.N. General Assembly followed that opinion with a resolution demanding that Britain end its "colonial administration" of the Chagos Islands and return them to Mauritius. Britain's newly elected Labour government says that without the deal the status of the military base would be under threat from legal challenges.

Mauritius has long argued it was forced to give up the islands in 1965 in return for independence from Britain

Britain said on Thursday it would give up sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a deal that would allow people displaced decades ago to return home while London retains use of the UK-U.S.

Islanders who were forced to leave their remote Indian Ocean home to make way for a U.S. military base half a century ago protested outside the U.K. Parliament on Monday