Britain's government confirmed Wednesday that it will not finalize a deal to hand over sovereignty of the contested Chagos Islands to Mauritius until President-elect Donald Trump’s administration is consulted.

The UK's planned handover of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius should be considered by incoming US President Donald Trump before it goes ahead, Downing Street has said.

The resulting agreement, however, was imperfect. Mauritius is almost 1,400 miles from the Chagos and has no real links beyond the fact that both territories were transferred from France to Britain in 1814. Though Chagossians will gain the right of return, they were not involved in the negotiations and some wanted self-rule.