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US President-elect Donald Trump will be consulted on the UK's deal to hand over the Chagos Islands - where there is a joint US-UK military base - to Mauritius.
The UK announced in October it would cede sovereignty of the archipelago in the Indian Ocean, but maintain control of the base on the largest island Diego Garcia under a 99-year lease.
There had been efforts to get the treaty signed before Trump's inauguration on Monday, the BBC understands, and the Mauritian cabinet was expected to approve the deal on Wednesday.
But "overnight the British position changed", a Mauritius source close to the negotiations told the BBC.
The deal had already been greenlit by the Biden administration but the UK prime minister's office on Wednesday said the incoming Trump government would now "consider" the deal.