The UK has asked for "strong protections" for a joint UK-US military base on the Chagos Islands. Britain agreed last year to hand over the archipelago over to Mauritius after a decades-long dispute.British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and his Mauritian counterpart Navin Ramgoolam spoke directly for the first time about the Chagos Archipelago deal on Friday. Britain and its former colony reached a deal in October 2024 to hand the Chagos Islands back to Mauritius, an archipelago in the Indian Ocean. The deal would end Britain's direct control of the islands but give it a lease of 99 years on a joint UK-US military base on the largest island, Diego Garcia. In the Friday call, Starmer "underlined the need for a deal to secure the military base on Diego Garcia that ensures strong protections, including from malign influence," according to a Downing Street statement. "Both leaders reiterated their commitment to a deal, and they looked forward to speaking again soon," the statement said. Ramgoolam, who was elected in November, has questioned the deal agreed by his predecessor. He has said it didn't benefit his country enough without going into detail on individual sticking points. Why are the Chagos Islands important? The Chagos Islands are a tiny group of some 60 islands in the Indian Ocean, south of India between Africa and Australia. Britain set up the base on Diego Garcia after gaining control of the Chagos Archipelago in 1965 and then leased the base to the United States. The base's location allows the US to more easily conduct military operations in the region, such as the global hotspots of East Africa and the Middle East. The US has used the base as a hub for long-range bombers and ships, including during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. What is the US role in the deal? Britain said in January that it would consult with the Trump administration about the deal. Before becoming US secretary of state under Trump, Marco Rubio said the deal poses a threat to US security by ceding the archipelago to a country allied with China. In a call between US President Donald Trump and Starmer earlier this week, the fate of the Chagos islands deal was not discussed. The UK's opposition Conservative Party has also said that says the deal could open up the possibility of China gaining a military foothold in the Indian Ocean. kh/zc (Reuters, AFP, dpa)