The Indian Ocean as a gateway to Africa - Indian diplomatic relations with Mauritius

Giving an address at the inauguration of a Supreme Court building in Mauritius in July 2020, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that “Mauritius is at the heart of India's approach to the Indian Ocean region. I want to add that Mauritius is also at the heart of India's approach to development partnership.” 

The Republic of Mauritius, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, has long been known for its sugar trade, natural diversity and, perhaps most famously, its status as a luxury tourist destination. Its geographically strategic position between Africa, India, and Australia, however, has attracted the attention of several countries seeking to make the country a component of their maritime security agenda. None have been more successful than India which has, since the 1970s, signed a wide range of defence and security agreements with Mauritius, considering itself a ‘first responder’ for Mauritius in times of crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic and Wakashio oil-spill incident. 

Whilst India’s foreign policy doctrine has, over half a century, emphasised the reinforcement of India-Mauritius relations, since Modi’s ascension to power in 2014, diplomatic engagement between the two countries has surged with India seemingly on an urgent mission to militarise the country. Further adding to India's efforts in Mauritius has been mounting multipolarity and the presence of Chinese influence in African nations. Increasingly wary of China’s African presence following the inauguration of China’s first military base in Djibouti in 2017 as well as China’s plans to build ports across the maritime domain under their ‘String of Pearls’ plan, India has been eager to invest in Mauritius in order to coax the country, which is also officially a part of Africa, under their umbrella of influence.

In 2015, the first Indian manufactured warship was commissioned into the National Coast Guard of Mauritius and at an event marking the occasion, Modi made his first reference to ‘SAGAR’, a backronym for ‘Security and Growth for All in the Region’ - a label he uses to describe India’s vision for maritime cooperation in the Indian Ocean. India has since signed agreements to provide a Dornier aircraft and Dhruv helicopter, invested over $600 million in Lines of Credit to Mauritius for both civilian and defence projects and is reportedly building a military base within Mauritian territory on Agaléga, two islands making up approximately 24 km2 in the northernmost territory of Mauritius. India’s securing of Agaléga in a 2015 Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has seen India setting up a monitoring station and 10,000ft airstrip which Samuel Bashfield, research officer at the Australian National University, predicts will function primarily to “cement India’s presence in the south-west Indian Ocean and facilitate its power projection aspirations in this region.” That said, Mauritius’ current Prime Minister, Pravind Kumar Jugnauth, has consistently denied reports of the island being transformed into a military base despite satellite imagery revealing major airfield and port developments. On top of this, in 2021, Mauritius was also admitted as a full member of the Colombo Security Conclave, the group for maritime security in the Indian Ocean region founded by India, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

India’s current BJP government, which adheres to right-wing Hindu-nationalist ideology, has arguably exploited Mauritius’ apparent shared cultural connection with India with an even greater sense of fervour than previous governments in a bid to reinforce ties with the island nation.

Inaugurating a series of India-assisted development projects in Mauritius last year, Modi stated that the two countries “are united by history, ancestry, culture, language and the shared waters of the Indian Ocean. Today, our robust development partnership has emerged as a key pillar of our close ties.” What’s more, Modi has even mirrored former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s 1970 labelling of Mauritius as “Chota Bharat” (Little India), during a pre-departure address prior to his first official visit to Mauritius. Whilst it is true that roughly 62% of Mauritius’ population are of Indian descent, owing to a history of Indian indentured labour to Mauritius, this majoritarian notion of Mauritius as a fragment of India undermines the rest of the population who trace their ancestry to Africa, China and Europe, not to mention the creolised identity that arguably makes Indian-descent Mauritians culturally distinct from Indians from the subcontinent and the fact that 90% of people in the 2022 Mauritian population census reported to speak only Creole at home. 

Ultimately, this emphasis of shared cultural ties is undoubtedly politically motivated rather than grounded in reality and, as highlighted above, has more to do with Mauritius’ geostrategic location; whilst further afield there are other island-states like Guyana, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago that have similar histories of Indian indentured labour, none are geopolitically located as to warrant a significant role in Indian strategic agenda like Mauritius. 

Whilst Jugnauth has facilitated and called for gratitude towards India’s involvement in Mauritius, this involvement has drawn mixed responses, with opposition parties growing suspicious of India’s access to, and political influence over, the island. In July 2022, for instance, following reports that Jugnauth had violated national security by illegally allowing access to internet traffic to India, all of the opposition parties called for a united response addressing the claims whilst also questioning Jugnauth about the reported Indian military base on Agaléga. 

Moreover NGO’s and environmental activists have been protesting about the Mauritian government exempting the India-Mauritius Agaléga project from any Environmental license processes with a number of Mauritians, including natives of Agalega, even forming the “Koalision Zilwa Pou Lape” (Islanders Coalition for Peace), to protest against the militarisation of their peaceful island region. 

The extent of the impact of India’s reinforcement of India-Mauritius relations will become clearer with time but for now, owing to a lack of transparency coming from both Mauritius and New Delhi, one can only speculate as to whether this tie will be mutually beneficial in the longterm or whether Mauritius is slowly becoming little more than a chess piece for Indian imperialism in a theatre of power politics.