The Republic of Mauritius will regain sovereignty over the Chagos Archipelago, a group of remote but strategically important islands in the Indian Ocean, after more than half a century, the Mauritian Prime Minister’s Office announced on Thursday, reported Xinhua.

The U.K. says it has reached a "historic" deal to cede the Chagos Archipelago in the Indian Ocean to the Republic of Mauritius, thus surrendering the final colony of Britain's once-sprawling African empire.

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.