MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands Councillors prepared to ?battle' in the United Nations.

Falklands Councillors prepared to ?battle' in the United Nations.

The two Falklands Councillors who will represent the Islands at this week's United Nations Committee of 24 (Decolonisation Committee) will adopt a far more ?robust line' than their predecessors.

Argentina is expected once again to petition the Committee with their claim to the sovereignty of the Falklands, a British Dependent Territory, and request that negotiations on the long-standing dispute be entered into immediately. The Falklands Councillors will tell the United Nations Committee of 24 that the 2,300 Islanders have ?the right to determine their own future, regardless of territorial or historical disputes'. ?They simply cannot argue with our message, and surely no-one cannot deny us the right to determine our own future', said Councillor Richard Cockwell.

On the eve of his departure to New York, Councillor Cockwell said that he and his colleague, Councillor John Birmingham, will lobby the other delegates in a more constructive and forceful manner than ever undertaken before, and that they will press home as firmly as possible the self-determination message. ?Every person worldwide has the right to self-determination so we should we in the Falklands be denied that right?' questioned the former farmer.

?I don't think we should be terribly disappointed if the vote goes against us, as it has in the past, because to be realistic that is what will happen, but as long as we get some people (in the Committee of 24) supporting us, and saying "you must talk to the Islanders" then that is a moral victory for us. Every year more and more delegates are realizing that the Islanders must be consulted. The people who traditionally support us are doing so in a much more stronger way than ever before and they are saying ?the Islanders must be consulted' and that is the message which is reverberating around the United Nations,' said Councillor Cockwell.

He talked of the ?political alliances' which exist within the United Nations, and mentioned ?business interests in South America which some Countries have and which makes it difficult to persuade them to vote in our favour, and they accordingly follow the Argentine line'. But not all the Countries adopt that stance and he recalled that a year ago the Sierra Leon