In a diplomatic blow to Britain, the United Nations voted Thursday to ask the International Court of Justice to rule on the fate of the Chagos islands, the British-ruled Indian Ocean archipelago that hosts an important military base. The Chagos have been at the center of a decades-long dispute over Britain's decision to separate the archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 and set up a joint military base with the US on Diego Garcia, the largest of the islands.
The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution presented by Mauritius and backed by African countries asking the ICJ to offer an opinion on the island chain's fate. The measure was approved by a vote of 94-15 with 65 abstentions, notably from many European countries including Germany and France.
The vote was seen as a test of Britain's ability to rally support from fellow Europeans after it voted to leave the European Union. Britain and the United States had strongly appealed to the 193-nation assembly to vote against the measure, arguing that it was a bilateral dispute.
Diego Garcia was used by the US Central Intelligence Agency as an interrogation center for terror suspects from Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The resolution asks the ICJ to "render an advisory opinion" on Britain's decision to separate the Chagos from Mauritius and rule on the resettlement of Chagossians to make way for the military base. The ICJ's opinion would be non-binding, but it would lend support to a campaign by Mauritius for the return of the Chagos Islands.