The governments of Britain and Mauritius have reached a final deal to settle the future of the Chagos Islands but have been barred from signing it by a British judge.

Britain’s government has acknowledged that its removal of islanders was wrong, and has granted many citizenship and set aside some funds to improve their lives. But it continues to bar Chagossians from returning and living in their homeland, citing defense and security concerns and “cost to the British taxpayer.”

The UK on Thursday signed an agreement to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius and lease back the Diego Garcia military base, critical to the UK and the US, for an average of 101 million pounds