MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falklands’ military tests: CFK complains to UN; UK says it’s 28 year routine
Argentine Ambassador before UN, Jorge Argüello Argentine Ambassador to the United Nations Jorge Argüello confirmed Monday that a copy of the formal verbal complaint to London was channelled to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon as a way of deepening the protest over the military exercises being deployed by British forces in the Falklands/Malvinas Islands.
In London the British Foreign Office downplayed the exercises and the incident.
“These are routine military tests that have taken place every six months for the past 28 years, most recently in April this year,” an office spokesman said. “Shipping alerts are always issued in advance and the tests take place entirely within Falklands’ territorial waters.”
Speaking with the official Argentine news agency Telam, Argüello said that “we are going to ask the UN Secretary General to distribute a copy of the complaint among members of the organization as testimony of this new violation of UN resolutions” by the United Kingdom.
Previously, the government of President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner channelled the protest through British Ambassador in Buenos Aires Shan Morgan who had been summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Argüello went further: “we are going to insist that the Secretary General advances with the good offices task the General Assembly agreed to and which is geared to the opening of bilateral negotiations over the Islands sovereignty”.
The Argentine Ambassador assured “the United Kingdom has been failing to comply with several UN resolutions all these past years for example, the country should not refuse to negotiate diplomatically and bilaterally over the Islands sovereignty”.
Besides “the UK should not be granting unilaterally fishing licences in waters under conflict or allow the exploration or exploitation of minerals or hydrocarbons in disputed territory or be involved in military exercises with missiles in conflict areas”.
Argüello concluded that Mrs Kirchner “has been pointing out the issue before the UN General Assembly for years. We need to democratize the United Nations, for the Security Council and its five permanent members should not be awarded the right to veto or not comply with what has been overwhelmingly decided by the General Assembly which is the rest of the world community”.
On Saturday Mrs Kirchner through her twitter said the British decision to conduct military exercises in a disputed area such as the Falkland/Malvinas Islands was “something serious, very serious” of an “unprecedented gravity”.
Mrs. Kirchner said that the British military decision was a confirmation “of the militarization of the South Atlantic and the illicit and unmasked use of UK’s permanent seat on the UN Security Council.”
The Argentine president anticipated that her government would communicate “this in unison to the UN Secretary General, OAS, UNASUR, and member states of these organizations” and concluded that the British in “synthesis … pirates for ever?”.
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Read all comments“ ... Speaking with the official Argentine news agency Telam, Argüello said that “we are going to ask the UN Secretary General to distribute a copy of the complaint among members of the organization as testimony of this new violation of UN resolutions” by the United Kingdom.... ”
Oct 12th, 2010 - 01:38 am 0So, Ban Ki Moon is now a postman :-)
Although he may struggle to identify quite which UN Resolutions are applicable.
I note that the UN's 4th Committee rounded up its oversight of C-24 yesterday. No Resolution being put forward on the Falklands and the UK's Representative making one thing very clear -
“ ... the representative of the United Kingdom said his delegation found the proposal unacceptable, as the resolution failed to recognize the progress that had been made in the relationship between the United Kingdom and its territories. He repeated that the United Kingdom would support the move to independence when that was an option. His delegation strongly considered the “Special Committee of 24” to be outdated and strongly believed that the United Nations should devote its resources to more urgent issues....”
He also reiterated that “ ... his delegation had no doubt about its sovereignty over the Falkland Islands ... ” and that “ ... no civilian population had been removed before they settled on the islands over eight generations ago. They had been the only inhabitants of the Falkland Islands. He also stressed that all peoples could, for their own end, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources, and in no case could a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence...”
Funny how Argentina tried to re-interpret the variious Resolutions going through so that the didn't affect the Falkland Islands ... although the legal effect of their definitions is a moot point.
There's always next year :-)
Wow Hoytred. Anything else that you wish to copy and paste?
Oct 12th, 2010 - 03:27 am 0You missed this one: “pirates for ever”
(1) Hoyt
Oct 12th, 2010 - 04:12 am 0General Assembly resolutions 2065 (XX), 3160 (XXVIII), 31/49, 37/9, 38/12, 39/6, 40/21, 41/40, 42/19 and 43/25
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