Chile's state-owned oil and gas company ENAP, Empresa Nacional del Petroleo, recovered the Southern Argentine concession revoked in March by Chubut province, when the dispute over YPF, ENAP said in a statement Friday.
The chair of the UN Decolonisation Committee Ecuadorian ambassador Diego Morejón Pazmiño described the UK announcement of a referendum in the Malvinas Islands as a “political ploy”, insisting that the Falkland Islanders can not appeal to the right of self determination.
The Falkland Islands Government is “incredibly disappointed” that despite claims from Argentine president Cristina Fernandez, before the United Nations, of “only wanting to sit down and discuss about Falklands”, her government rejected point blank an invitation to dialogue.
A letter from the Falkland Islands government inviting the Argentine government to enter into a dialogue and which was to be delivered directly to President Cristina Fernandez’ delegation during the Decolonization Committee debate was frustrated by the passivity of the C24 chair and by Foreign Minister Hector Timerman.
In a strong speech claiming sovereignty over the Falklands/Malvinas issue addressing the UN Decolonization Committee, Argentine president Cristina Fernandez called on the UK “to leave this history of colonialism behind and start building a new history based on dialogue” but at the same time blasted the recent announcement of a referendum in the Islands do decide on their political status.
In his speech to the UN Decolonization Committee MLA Mike Summers recalled that Article 1 of the UN Charter sets out the importance of respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of all peoples, which Argentina ignores and the Commission, which tries to be neutral, does not express this in its resolutions.
The first petitioner for the Falkland Islands MLA Roger Edwards before the UN Decolonization Committee said that Argentina claims to fight against colonialism yet wishes to annex the Islands and “subject our people to alien subjugation and domination”, which is the very definition of colonialism.
Reacting to the massive media campaign displayed by Argentina, UK UN Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant revealed that it was President Cristina Fernandez who requested US the Decolonization Committee to schedule the annual discussion of the Falklands/Malvinas status on the anniversary of Britain’s victory 14 June 1982.
Argentine President Cristina Fernández called on the UK to “give peace a chance” in an advertisement article published Thursday on British, Indian and Russian newspapers ahead of her presentation later in the day before the UN Decolonization Committee demanding sovereignty over the Falkland Islands.
By Alicia Castro - Today marks the 30th anniversary of the end of the war in the South Atlantic, but the sovereignty dispute between Argentina and the UK goes back 179 years. It dates from the time that Great Britain – in much the same way it invaded Buenos Aires in 1806 and 1807 without success – invaded and took the Malvinas by force in 1833. In this lengthy historical process, the events of 1982 are the most regrettable.