Argentina to raise Falklands issue at UN

This dispute has surfaced once again.......I don't think they should have sent William there to prove a point, bad move.!!



8 February 2012
Last updated at 01:02















Argentina to raise Falklands UK 'militarisation' at UN




















Cristina Fernandez: "This is a regional and global cause because they are militarising the South Atlantic once more"







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Argentina
is to make a formal complaint to the United Nations about British
"militarisation" around the disputed Falkland Islands.

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner made the
announcement at a meeting of MPs, senior officials, and veterans of the
1982 war Argentina fought with Britain over the islands.

Tensions between the two countries have been increasing in recent weeks.

Last month, the UK said it was sending a destroyer to the region.

The status of the islands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas, is still a highly sensitive issue for Buenos Aires.

In December, Mercosur, a South American trading bloc, closed its ports to ships flying the Falkland Islands flag.

Then, last month, the UK said it was sending one of its
newest destroyers, HMS Dauntless, to the South Atlantic, off the
Falklands.

London described the move as "routine".

Prince William, grandson of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and
second in line to the throne, was also deployed to the islands in his
role as a search and rescue helicopter pilot.


Continue reading the main story Analysis




Fergal Keane
BBC News




In taking a complaint to the UN the Argentine side knows that
Britain, as a permanent member of the Security Council, can ultimately
veto any critical resolution.

Before the speech there had been speculation that Ms
Fernandez might signal an end to the important air link between Chile
and the Falklands which must use Argentine air space - a move that would
have created significant practical difficulties for the islanders.

That she chose not to, illustrates that Argentine tactics are
not about achieving any kind of immediate practical effect, but are
focused instead on a longer-term campaign of diplomatic attrition.




In her address on Tuesday, Ms Fernandez accused the UK of "militarising the South Atlantic one more time".

"We will present a complaint to the UN Security Council and
the UN General Assembly, as this militarisation poses a grave danger to
international security," Ms Fernandez said.

"We cannot interpret in any other way the deployment of an
ultra-modern destroyer accompanying the heir to the throne, who we would
prefer to see in civilian attire."

She asked UK Prime Minister David Cameron "to give peace a chance".

The UK Foreign Office later issued a statement that said:
"The people of the Falkland Islands are British out of choice. They are
free to determine their own future and there will be no negotiations
with Argentina over sovereignty unless the islanders wish it."

The BBC's Fergal Keane says President Fernandez's initiative
is consistent with recent Argentine attempts to internationalise the
Falklands issue.

Her government has gained the political support of nations
such as Brazil and Uruguay that have banned ships flying the Falklands
flag from visiting their ports.

Chile's foreign minister also recently declared his support for Argentine sovereignty over the islands.

A crowd waving Argentine flags and shouting "Malvinas" rallied near the government palace where Ms Fernandez was speaking.

Britain has held the Falkland Islands since 1833.

Argentina demands UN reject Falkland Islands referendum


Argentina is to demand the UN rejects a referendum staged by the Falkland
Islands when its foreign minister meets Ban Ki-moon, the body’s Secretary
General this week.








Falklanders in the grounds of
Christchurch Cathedral in Stanley celebrate the 98 percent Yes vote Photo: Heathcliff
O'Malley






By Damien McElroy

3:30PM GMT 25 Mar 2013

140 Comments




Héctor Timerman, Argentina’s foreign minister, has
travelled to New York to lead a delegation of Latin American representatives
opposed to the recent vote.


The trip comes as Uruguay’s foreign minister lashed out at the British
territories as “unacceptable”.


Luis Almagro, a veteran Leftist, said the Falkland Islands military contingent
was a Nato base in the South Atlantic and violated international law.


Voters in the Falkands endorsed a referendum that
the Falkland Islands remains a self-governing overseas territory by a margin of
98.9 per cent.


Buenos Aires maintains the vote was an illegimate colonialist exercise.




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Mr Timerman said his trip was a “favourable opportunity to expose the reasons
of the illegality of the referendum”.

In a statement Falkland Islands officials decried Mr Timerman's initiative.
"It is disappointing – though not surprising – that Mr Timerman seems so anxious
to discredit our referendum. Suggestions by the Argentine Government that our
referendum was “illegal” and that it contravenes UN resolutions, or that the
Falkland Islanders are proscribed by the UN from discussions on the future of
our Island home, are all absurd and untrue," it said. "Mr Timerman’s frantic
efforts to lobby the international community to ignore our voice strikes us here
as the diplomacy of desperation.

Mike Summers, a Falkland Islands legislator, presented the results of the
referendum to the UN in New York last week.

He presented a letter in which the Islands said the results should be
respected under the UN’s own rules on self-determination.

“The referendum result makes it clear that we have no desire to be governed
by Argentina. Continued harassment of our economic development and intimidation
of those who want to do business with us and invest in the Islands will not
change this fact. The more Argentina presses our small community, the harder
will be our resolve,” the Island’s representatives said. “We believe this result
is a clear and comprehensive expression of our wishes and very much hope that
the United Nations will acknowledge and respect those wishes as the legitimate
voice of the Falkland Islands people.”

While Mr Ban has been diplomatically even-handed in the past - stressing the
need for dialogue between London and Buenos Aires, he recently hinted that the
Islanders have a strong case to present their own wishes.

“People living under certain conditions should have a certain level of
capacities so that they can decide their own future,” he said.

Argentina said it had support from MPs from 20 Latin American and Caribbean
countries against the referendum at the 128th Assembly of the World
Inter-Parliamentary Union meeting in Ecuador last week.