Nigel Farage has asserted that the Maldives is poised to lodge a counter-claim regarding the Chagos Islands with the International Court of Justice "in just a few days".
The Reform UK leader, who visited the independent archipelagic nation in the Indian Ocean over the weekend, posted a video on X (formerly Twitter) alleging that the UK prevented his access to the Chagos Islands.
During a Commons session on Wednesday, Farage further claimed that the Maldives is "upset" by the UK Government's intentions to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius.
This proposed agreement, which the Government states will secure the operation of a joint UK-US base on Diego Garcia for a minimum of 99 years, also aims to facilitate the return of Chagossians to the outer islands.
Mr Farage said: “I can tell you this from my trip to the Maldives at the weekend – something I hadn’t realised, and I don’t know whether the Government knows it either.
“It is the Maldives that has the historical links with the Chagos Islands, both in terms of trade, in terms of archaeology. In fact, the islands, all the French did was rename the islands from Maldivian language.
“There is no basis, historically, culturally, in any way, for Mauritius to have a claim on those islands.
“And the Maldives are upset for two reasons. One, there has been great stability in this region for decades, and what happens with this treaty, if it goes through, is you finish up with a turf war going on between India and China in the region, and that indeed has already started.
“And I wish to inform the Government that we are just a few days away, in my opinion, from the Maldives issuing a counter-claim to the International Court of Justice to say, if anybody has the right to the sovereignty of those islands, it is the Maldives and not Mauritius.
“And I would urge you to pause all of this.”
The Reform leader said on Saturday that he had flown to the Maldives to join a delegation bringing “humanitarian aid” to Chagossians who are trying to establish a settlement on one of the outer islands.
He wrote on X: “I have been denied entry to the Chagos Islands by the UK Government.”
In the accompanying video, he said: “The British Government are applying pressure on the president and the government of the Maldives to do everything within their power to stop me getting on that boat and going to the Chagos Islands.”
Foreign office minister Hamish Falconer branded this a “flagrant incident of ignoring travel advice”.
Responding to Mr Farage in the Commons, he said: “I would just like to remind him that if he turned up with a selfie stick to RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire, a similarly sensitive military base, he would be turned away.
“I do not understand his surprise, or those who travelled with him, that when you sought over the weekend to film a video on a sensitive military site under the control of the UK – it is part of the British Indian Overseas Territories, as you know.
“I would encourage (Mr Farage) and indeed every member of the public to check British travel advice.”
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