France, Sept. 12 -- The United Kingdom's House of Commons this week adopted a bill on the handing back of the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius. The decision has been welcomed by the descendants of those who were expelled from the Indian Ocean territory more than 50 years ago to make way for a military base.

The "Diego Garcia Military Base and British Indian Ocean Territory Bill"passed after a second reading, with 330 votes to 174 on 9 September - thus ratifying Mauritian sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago.

However, Diego Garcia island will remain under an Anglo-American military lease for 99 years withan annual payment of £101 million (€120 million), or £3.4 billion pounds (more than €4 billion) in total.

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