🇲🇺 Mauritius warns London it will go to court if Chagos stalls

Mauritius warns London it will go to court if Chagos stalls

PM Ramgoolam has told the United Kingdom that Mauritius will put London on notice for legal action if the Chagos agreement is not ratified soon. He delivered the warning to Jonathan Powell, the British national security adviser, at a meeting in London late last week.

The deal, signed on 22 May 2025, hands sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritius while leasing back the Diego Garcia military base. Ratification on the British side has stalled for months. To break the deadlock, PM Ramgoolam proposed a meeting between Mauritius, the United Kingdom and the United States, and he wants it at very short notice.

"Time has already run out" is how the Mauritian side framed it. The threat of a case under international law gives that line teeth: Mauritius has won at this table before, and London knows it.

CWA rations the taps to stretch water into December

Mare-aux-Vacoas, the island's largest reservoir, sits at 36.6%, and the Central Water Authority is now drawing less from it so the supply lasts into early December. The reservoir is pushing out 75,000 cubic metres a day, down from the usual 110,000.

To ease the strain, the CWA is eyeing Mare-Longue, which is 80.3% full, and plans to feed the La Marie treatment station directly. Rivers at Petrin and Papayes are also on list, with pressure filtration units bought to clean that water first. Director general Shiam Thannoo says the measures should hold the island through, just.

Mauritius Post workers say nothing has changed since their march

"Nothing concrete has been done," say Mauritius Post employees, three months to the day after their peaceful march. One manager still on the job calls the mood bitter: wages are tight, the financial squeeze has not eased, and the assurances that followed the protest have gone quiet.

On Sunday they marked the anniversary, the complaint is the same. Three months of waiting, and little to show for it.

Private health care needs to open its books, says Naugah

Patients paying for private care in Mauritius often cannot see what they are charged for, or why, and Vipin Naugah argues that opacity is now a major problem. He wants clearer pricing and published standards, so families can size up a clinic before the bill arrives, not after.

Commuters run out of patience with a straining bus network

How long can a bus network run on frayed patience? Riders are asking exactly that, after another run of crowded stops, late arrivals and missed connections. Operators point to strain across the system; passengers just point to the clock.

Shorts

School safety back in question after accident – An accident at a special school has reopened doubts about how well pupils are kept safe.

Divali Monday is a public holiday – Divali falls on Sunday 8 November, so Monday 9 November is now a day off.

ADSU moves on Karo Kalyptis drug turf – Police are pushing to retake Karo Kalyptis from traffickers as residents plead for state help.

Pailles crash replayed on the motorway – Police restaged the 9 September motorway crash at Pailles, snarling Sunday traffic.

No watches, exam pupils want a clock – With watches barred, SC and HSC candidates ask for clocks to track the time.

5.5%

Mauritius's jobless rate for April to June, a touch lower than before, even as Statistics Mauritius counted 3,100 fewer people at work than the previous quarter. A softer labour market can look good and feel thin at once.

16 years

the climb from dishwasher to operations manager at a New York firm for Rudy Arnachellum, who left Mauritius at 19. The long way round still arrives somewhere.

5,000

arrests across France as students protesting over crumbling learning conditions forced some 500 schools to close. When classrooms empty, the complaint is aimed upward.

African leaders tell the continent to bank on itself

Heads of state and business chiefs met in Egypt on Saturday for the first El-Alamein Africa Forum, where the pitch was blunt: Africa should finance its own growth and lean less on outside money. The continent holds the capital, speakers argued, and the job is freeing it up.

Not everyone led with optimism. Burundi's President Ndayishimiye warned that persistent violence keeps stalling development, a reminder that capital follows calm.

Ethiopian forces push into Mekelle

Federal troops entered Mekelle and retook its airport from Tigrayan fighters, even as Oromo crowds marked the Irreecha thanksgiving in Addis Ababa.

At least 17 killed in a Kenya crash

A highway crash near Mombasa killed at least 17 people on Saturday, most of them pilgrims heading to a prayer site.

Houthis say they struck a Saudi oil site in Riyadh

Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed an attack on facilities of Aramco, the world's biggest oil company, in the Saudi capital Riyadh. The claim lands as forces backed by Saudi Arabia launch a push to retake ground from the rebels, who Iran arms.

Strikes have hit both Yemen and Saudi Arabia as the fight widens. Any real threat to Aramco tends to show up fast at the pump, which is why a war this far away still reaches a Mauritian fuel bill.

Latvia's United List wins its biggest vote yet

PM Kulbergs' United List, which backs Ukraine, scored the largest election win for any Latvian party since 1991.

US Marine held over Okinawa killing

A US Marine was arrested over the suspected robbery and murder of a Japanese woman in Okinawa, prompting a official protest from Tokyo.

Mauritius starts to put a price on the next cyclone

What does a flood cost before it hits? The CDRI, a global body that hardens roads, power and water against disaster, ran a pilot study to answer that for Mauritius.

It puts numbers on what cyclones and floods could do to vital infrastructure, and argues for saving money now rather than paying later. Cheaper to buy the umbrella before the storm.

🙏 Merci, à demain! 👋

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