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

By Alistair Smout, Michael Holden and Villen Anganan LONDON/PORT LOUIS (Reuters) -Britain said on Thursday it would cede sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius in a deal it said secured the future of the UK-U.

The agreement ends decades of dispute over Britain’s last African colony, from which thousands of people were forcibly evicted, while maintaining a key U.S.-British military base there.