The Foreign Office is urging UK travellers to ‘stay away’
11:20, 13 Oct 2026Updated 11:20, 13 Oct 2026
Some schools were reportedly closed in some parts of the country(Image: Getty)
The UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has revised its travel guidance in an update today, October 13. In its latest update for those planning a trip to Mauritius, the Foreign Office is warning tourists about “localised demonstrations and community unrest” following a shooting.
The FCDO warns: “Localised demonstrations and community unrest have occurred in parts of Mauritius following a police shooting incident on October 9 2026. Further protests may occur at short notice and could result in road closures, transport disruptions and interruptions to public services.
“Stay away from demonstrations and large public gatherings, monitor local media, follow the instructions of local authorities and exercise caution if travelling in affected areas.” About 150,000 UK tourists travel to the island every year.
If you find yourself in a situation where you need help, you should report any incidents to the Mauritius tourist police by calling 999.
Emergency services in Mauritius
Ambulance: 999 or 114
Fire: 999 or 115
Police: 999 or 112
Tourist police
Contact your travel provider and insurer
The Foreign Office stresses on its website: “Contact your travel provider and your insurer if you are involved in a serious incident or emergency abroad. They will tell you if they can help and what you need to do.”
Mauritius temporarily shut schools after shooting say reports
Mauritius closed schools in some parts of the country on Tuesday, October 13, reports say. It came after a night of unrest that began when a police officer allegedly shot a young woman.
An investigation is under way. It is being reported by local media that a police sergeant has been provisionally charged over the shooting of Élodie Thomas, 27.
She has since had successful surgery to remove the bullet. The incident led to protests. Police were dispatched as people burned tyres and blocked roads in parts of the country on Monday night.
Mauritius entry requirements
The island country in the Indian Ocean, located off the eastern coast of Africa, is becoming increasingly popular, with around 1.3 million tourists visiting every year.
In order to enter the country, your passport must:
be valid for the duration of your stay
have one blank page
The Foreign Office urges people to check with their travel provider to ensure their passport and any other travel documents meet the entry requirements, and to renew their passport if needed. Tourists could be refused entry if they do not have a valid travel document, or if they try to travel on a passport that has been reported lost or stolen.
The island nation sets out to eliminate high fees and multi-day delays for African cross-border transactions.
This article appears in the October issue of Global Finance Magazine.
In a fragmented landscape, aggregation matters. This philosophy underpins Mauritius’s quest to become the epicenter of cross-border payments in Africa, where layers of friction and an inability to converge have impeded deeper economic integration.
By building frictionless systems anchored in regulation, technology, and market dynamics, Mauritius, a small, upper-middle-income island nation of just 1.26 million people, is redefining payments in Africa and shifting the narrative for a continent long bound to Western capital in international payments.
“Through trust, Mauritius has become a hub for digital finance,” said Shane Mungur, senior associate at Mauritius-based law firm BLC Robert & Associates.
The reality of cross-border payments in Africa is that businesses and entrepreneurs must route transactions through correspondent banks in Europe and the U.S., paying fees as high as 7.1%, compared with a global average of about 2.8%. Worse, transactions can take as long as seven days to complete.
Mauritius’s effort to demonstrate that seamless payments in Africa are feasible is part of the nation’s ambitious transition to what it terms a “future-ready economic” model. This includes shifting the economy from dependence on sugarcane production and textiles and apparel to a new framework with the financial sector as the heartbeat. It has also meant shifting the focus of its search for a competitive edge from regional and bilateral trade treaties, legal and regulatory reforms, tax incentives, and the speedy incorporation of companies to cutting-edge innovation.
“Mauritius remains relevant and attractive as payment ecosystems evolve,” said Sharmilla Bhima, a partner at Mauritius-based law firm Appleby. Expanding its international financial center’s scope to cover cross-border payments is based on a conviction that Africa’s economy can only transform and become truly resilient if money can move across borders efficiently, securely, transparently, and affordably.
In recent years, more than $80 billion in Africa-bound investments have been structured through Mauritius. More than 450 private equity funds are now domiciled there, deploying capital across the continent.
“Mauritius is a jurisdiction that serves as a gateway for businesses seeking to participate in Africa’s growing economic integration,” Bhima said.
Cross-Border Payments Boom
The timing appears to be right.
Africa’s cross-border payments market is ballooning. Valued at $329 billion last year, it is projected to hit the $1 trillion mark in the next decade. Fragmentation nevertheless remains a barrier to unleashing the benefits of cross-border payments, cutting against the growth of trade, investment, entrepreneurship, financial inclusion, and economic integration.
Plans for a common currency to replace more than 40 local currencies remain a pipe dream while multiple regulatory regimes, limited interoperability, weak transparency, and dependence on intermediary currencies make friction a constant.
The continent continues to depend on hard currencies that are in short supply, increase conversion costs, and tie up working capital. Yet, the success of the African Continental Free Trade Area, the continent’s most ambitious effort at market integration, stands or falls largely on the ability of the member states to settle transactions in local currencies. The same applies to e-commerce, which is impeded by strict domestic transfer restrictions and high fees. Only 55% of African governments permit electronic know-your-customer and remittance costs are the highest globally, averaging 8% to 8.5%.
As Africa tries to tackle cross-border payments, some 36 instant payment systems, 33 country systems, and three regional systems are live, enabling some instant payments but also adding complexity. The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System remains the boldest initiative to counter these impediments. So far, 31 countries, 190 commercial banks and fintechs, and 16 payment switches are connected.
Sticking to the Basics
Shane Mungur, BLC Robert & Associates
Mauritius aims to provide its own answer by sticking to the basics of finance. Its regulatory focus is on creating a predictable environment that attracts investment and encourages transparent and secure capital flows: not just a safe haven or conduit for laundering.
Predictability has made Mauritius a hotspot for foreign direct investment. Last year, FDI inflows reached a record $1 billion, up from $705.7 million in 2024. Most of this — $400 million — was in the financial services sector, compared to just $20.8 million in 2024.
The Bank of Mauritius has assembled what it considers to be robust hardware and software infrastructure that can integrate with existing systems across multiple jurisdictions. The Mauritius Automated Clearing and Settlement System and the Mauritius Central Automated Switch (MauCAS), both administered by the central bank, were designed with interoperability in mind. The former settles transactions in major currencies as well as the local rupee.
“This is one of the most effective competitive edges in payments,” Mungur said.
Mauritius is also exploiting its strategic location as a financial bridge between Africa and Asia. A partnership with China enables settlement of transactions with renminbi while linking MauCAS with India’s switch has significantly boosted digital payments.
While regulation and technology are fundamental to Mauritius’s positioning as a payments hub, so is its ability to adapt to changing market dynamics. By removing exchange controls, the rupee is fully convertible, while foreign currency accounts can be held locally and no approval is needed to repatriate profit or capital. This is critical for treasurers moving money across African borders.
The central bank is also cognizant of the payments landscape’s fluidity, from electronic transfers to mobile wallets, QR-based payments, blockchain, tokenization, and many other channels, and has made encouraging financial innovation a priority.
“Encouraging innovation has enabled Mauritius to adopt new technologies that improve speed, reduce costs, and enhance client experience,” said Bhima. Regulators have nevertheless been careful to safeguard financial integrity and prevent inherent risks associated with like money laundering, terrorist financing, fraud, cybercrime, and sanctions evasion.
On this, Mauritius understands that trust is essential to establishing itself as a hub for cross-border payments.
(Source: State of Inclusive Instant Payment Systems in Africa 2025)
John Njiraini is a contributing writer based in Kenya.
Pointe aux Sables, Mauritius – “At one funeral, we scattered sand from Chagos into an elder’s tomb to honour his unfulfilled wish to breathe his last in his homeland,” says Olivier Bancoult of the Chagos Refugees Group.
For elderly Chagossians displaced from their Indian Ocean homeland decades ago, delays to a treaty allowing their return are raising fears that they may never see the islands again.
The agreement, signed by Britain and Mauritius in May 2025, would allow resettlement on islands other than Diego Garcia, which would remain a military base. But it has yet to enter into force amid opposition from US President Donald Trump.
“We remain unshaken by Trump’s interference in the Chagos deal,” Bancoult says.
“The 2019 ICJ advisory opinion in favour of the archipelago’s return to Mauritius has restored our dignity and faith in our rights as native Chagossians.”
The Chagos archipelago, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean, was separated from Mauritius by Britain in 1965, three years before Mauritius gained independence. Britain later established a military base with the US on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the group.
Between 1968 and 1973, Britain removed an estimated 1,400 to 1,700 Chagossians from the islands. Many were resettled in Mauritius and the Seychelles, with others later moving to the United Kingdom. British authorities also made it illegal to remain on or return to the islands without permission.
“If Trump wants to meddle in this matter, well, let him,” Bancoult says. “We’ve had the 2019 ICJ [International Court of Justice] advisory opinion, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea’s 2021 judgement, and the 2025 UK-Mauritius treaty providing for Mauritius to exercise sovereignty over the archipelago. International law is squarely on our side.”
Signed on May 22, 2025, the treaty provides for Mauritius to exercise sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago, while allowing the UK to exercise rights over the Diego Garcia military base for an initial 99-year period. It also allows Mauritius to arrange for the resettlement of Chagossians on islands other than Diego Garcia. The treaty has not yet entered into force.
In April, the UK government told Parliament that the legislation needed to implement the agreement could not complete its passage during the 2024–26 parliamentary session. The session ended on April 29, meaning the bill made no further progress.
In January, Trump criticised the agreement, calling it an “act of great stupidity ” and questioning whether it adequately protected the Diego Garcia military base.
The issue returned to the diplomatic agenda in September. On September 21, British Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the UK would work with Mauritius and the US on a way forward that secures the operation of Diego Garcia and protects UK national security.
On September 26, Mauritian Prime Minister Navin Ramgoolam travelled to the UK for talks with British National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell and other officials on the Chagos issue. He remains in London, with the Mauritian government saying the discussions would cover recent developments concerning the archipelago.
For Bancoult, the central question is whether elderly Chagossians will live long enough to see the treaty’s promises fulfilled.
“Chagossians born on the archipelago are now aged between 58 and 100. We are growing old, and we have lost several Chagossian elders this year alone,” he says.
For younger Chagossians, the consequences are also cultural.
Pointe aux Sables, a coastal village in Mauritius where many Chagossians live [Ameerah Arjanee/Al Jazeera]
Chrisyl Wong-Hang-Sun, a PhD researcher in anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, says years of displacement and migration are making it harder to preserve Chagossian culture.
“During my fieldwork, many diaspora members expressed concerns over cultural loss, such as words in Chagossian Creole and recipes that are difficult to recreate abroad,” she says. “Descendants of Chagossians, myself included, long to know the islands of their relatives and ancestors.”
The dispute has also exposed political differences among Chagossians.
“The actions of both the British and Mauritian governments have resulted in very nuanced and differing political opinions among Chagossians across the UK, Mauritius and the Seychelles,” Wong-Hang-Sun says.
The Chagos Refugees Group is at odds with UK-based second-generation Chagossian Misley Mandarin and his supporters, who favour resettlement under British rather than Mauritian sovereignty and have received backing from Reform UK.
Wong-Hang-Sun says those differences should be recognised as negotiations continue.
Both governments, she says, need to “find ways to prioritise and engage with the Chagossian diaspora as a whole”.
Mauritius keeps talks largely private
Mauritius has disclosed little publicly about the substance of the latest talks on Chagos.
At the United Nations General Assembly in September, Foreign Minister Dhananjay Ramful reiterated Mauritius’ position that its sovereignty over the Chagos archipelago was “non-negotiable”. He also described the 2025 agreement as a vindication of international law and said Mauritius was committed to diplomacy and dialogue over the issue.
Beyond official statements and communiques, the Mauritian government has provided few details about the substance of the current discussions.
Members of the Chagos Refugees Group, all born on the Chagos archipelago, in Pointe aux Sables, Mauritius [Ameerah Arjanee/Al Jazeera]
International relations consultant Bruno Donat, who has previously worked at the UN, says Mauritius should focus on sustained engagement with diplomatic partners, including the African Union, small island states, the Commonwealth Secretariat and sympathetic voices in the US Congress.
“Being in New York corridors for a photo” is not the priority, Donat says. Sustained engagement, he argues, can build pressure on Washington and prevent the issue from remaining unresolved indefinitely.
The Chagos Refugees Group has pursued a similar approach. In June, two months after the treaty stalled, its members travelled to the UK to lobby representatives of British political parties, with the exception of Reform UK.
The unresolved question of Diego Garcia
But Diego Garcia remains the most contentious part of the agreement.
Lalit, a Mauritian political organisation that has campaigned for decades for the closure of the base, opposes its continued military use. Lindsey Collen of Lalit says the treaty, as it stood in April, would have kept the base open and brought Mauritius into a closer relationship with the US military presence on the island.
“In addition to the moral responsibility, we have the knowledge that we might become a target for self-defence if our land is used this way,” she says.
Portraits of native Chagossians who have passed away hang on the walls of the Chagos Refugees Group headquarters [Ameerah Arjanee/Al Jazeera]
Collen is also concerned about a new partnership between the Mauritius Police Force and the New Mexico National Guard, as well as what she describes as the “enormous military-looking buildings” of the new US embassy in Mauritius.
Donat argues that the treaty could instead give Mauritius greater leverage over how Diego Garcia is used.
“Mauritius has publicly stated that the strikes launched from Diego Garcia against Iran breached international law,” he says. “That is not the position of a government staying silent to protect a lease payment.”
For Bancoult, those wider strategic questions are secondary to the need to ensure that elderly Chagossians have the chance to return to their homeland during their lifetimes.
“We are opposed to war, ethically, but we are also running out of time.”
The Chagos Refugees Group hopes to soon celebrate the 101st birthday of one of its members.
“God willing, he’ll stay with us for more years,” Bancoult says.
IF you want beautifully hot winters without the long, stopover flights, then an island is about to be on your list.
The island of Mauritius, just off the coast of Madagascar in East Africa, has seen a drop in passengers in recent years.
Mauritius is set to be even easier to get toCredit: AlamyThe island has beachfront resorts and 30C wintersCredit: supplied
According to Travel Gossip, visitor numbers fell by 11 per cent, linked to the Middle East conflict due to the majority of flights operating via Dubai.
However, it also rose slightly back in August, with last-minute bookings to the island.
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Airline Air Mauritius – who currently operates flights from London Gatwick – could add even more from the UK.
Dinesh Burrenchobay, Chairman of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority, said: “Air Mauritius has committed to increase its frequency back to five flights a week, maybe even six or seven.
“It didn’t commit to a timeline, but I think we will get extra flights from the UK by nextsummer.”
The UK is one of the island’s biggest markets, with as many 150,000 visiting a year.
Air Mauritius UK Country Sales Manager Allan Owen added: “We are looking at the tourist board to increase knowledge of Mauritius and what it has to offer and we will increase capacity in line with rising demand.”
Direct flights from the UK to Mauritius take just under 12 hours.
Le Morne Beach is known for being one of the world’s best beachesCredit: Alamy
However, the time difference can be as little as 3-4 hours, so jet lag is minimal.
Not just that, but January is one of its hottest months with highs of 30C, so its the ideal escape from the cold UK.
When it comes to visiting the island, the north is popular with fly-and-floppers with most resorts lining the beaches.
Otherwise the south of the island is more for the nature fans, with waterfalls and tropical jungles.
One of it’s most famous beaches is Le Morne Beach, often named one of the best in the world.
We’ve found some very cheap holiday deals – local B&B breaks start from £739pp (with flights and seven nights) while beachside resorts start from £999pp on loveholidays.
