Washington said the deal protected the long-term, secure and effective operation of the strategic military base.

The U.K. has agreed to hand sovereignty of the long-contested Chagos Islands, an archipelago of more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean, to Mauritius, in a deal to secure the future of a strategically important U.

Britain struck a deal allowing it to keeping control of a strategically important UK-US military base in the Indian Ocean for another century, while ceding sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.