UK suffers crushing defeat in UN vote on Chagos Islands

General assembly strongly condemns British occupation of Indian Ocean territory

The United Nations general assembly has overwhelmingly backed a motion condemning Britain's occupation of the remote Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean.

The 116-5 vote left the UK diplomatically isolated and was also a measure of severely diminished US clout on the world stage. Washington had campaigned vigorously at the UN and directly in talks with national capitals around the world in defence of the UK's continued control of the archipelago, where there is a US military base at Diego Garcia.