MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falklands Official History Controversy
Newspaper reports allege Argentine bias
Suggestions that British sovereignty over the Falkland Islands may be undermined by opinions expressed in the forthcoming Official History of the Falklands Conflict of 1982 are rejected by the British and Falkland Islands Governments.
Two British newspapers, the Mail on Sunday and the Sunday Express, carry speculative stories in their June 19th editions, in advance of publication, saying the book will reveal secret Foreign Office legal advice raising doubts over the legitimacy of British claims on the Islands.
Both newspapers say that revelations in the book will be seized upon by Argentina to intensify its unrelenting campaign to acquire sovereignty over the Islands and their 2,600 British population.
The book, due to be published next week, has been written by a Professor of War History, Sir Lawrence Freedman, who was given comprehensive access to previously unavailable secret intelligence files.
Importance of Self-Determination Both newspapers' stories are unfairly imbalanced because neither points out that the legal opinions apparently quoted are considered by the present day Foreign Office be so old as to be irrelevant and anachronistic in present-day circumstances, taking no account of all that has happened in recent years and of the over-riding importance now attached to the principle of self-determination.
The Mail on Sunday article, headlined "Anger at ?pro-Argentine' Falkland history", says there has been "a furious response from Falklands Officials" and quotes Councillor Jan Cheek as saying the book will be used by the Argentines as "ammunition for their claims". It also quotes what it calls a highly placed source in Britain as saying: "The professor did not seem to appreciate that the Falklands is a continuing dispute and that whatever he wrote would have a direct political impact". It also quotes former Falklands Government Chief Secretary in 1982, Dick Baker, as saying he views the forthcoming publication with "trepidation" and as questioning its accuracy.
The Sunday Express article, headlined "British ?doubts' on our Falkland claim", says "the book hurts diplomatic efforts as Argentinian Minister attacks Islanders", a reference to repetitious criticism by the Argentine Foreign Minister, Rafael Bielsa, at the United Nations and elsewhere.
Press speculation omits British Case Neither newspaper outlines the British case for sovereignty. Whatever interpretation Professor Freedman's official history may make, both the United Kingdom and Falkland Islands Governments have no doubt over Britain's sovereignty, strongly reiterated by the Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, a few months ago. In a message to the Islanders, Mr Blair declared: "Let me assure you that there is no lessening in our commitment to your security, sovereignty or right to self-determination. We have no doubts about our sovereignty over the Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and their surrounding maritime areas".
Whatever earlier Foreign Office legal views may be quoted, the Foreign Office now bases Britain's case for retention of sovereignty on nearly two centuries of British settlement. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office declares: "With the exception of two months of illegal occupation in 1982 (following the Argentine invasion), the Falkland Islands have been continuously, peacefully and effectively occupied and administered by Britain since 1833".
Islanders' "cast-iron title" The Islanders assert that they "have an absolute cast-iron historical, legal and moral title to the Islands". A number of families there go back six or seven generations to the early British settlers. Before them there was no indigenous or settled population.
The Falkland Islands Government rejects the Argentine claim as "flimsy, lacking historical and legal substance".
British captains made the first recorded landing in 1690 and took formal possession of West Falkland and "all neighbouring Islands" for Britain in 1765, before the state of Argentina existed.
Argentina claims it inherited title to the Islands from Spain dating back to Papal Grants of 1493 and 1494. But even the Vatican attaches no validity to these declarations of five centuries ago, saying it is a judgment for modern historians.
When Spain withdrew from the Falklands in 1811, she never assumed any ongoing rights to the Islands. Attempts by the new River Plate regime in Argentina between 1824 and 1832 to assert its claims were challenged by the British Government as infringing its sovereignty which it had never relinquished. A British naval force took possession in 1833 and demanded that the Argentines leave. Argentina says that the islands were seized by force.
The Official History, to be published by Frank Cass Limited, occupies 1,300 pages in two volumes, analysing the historical context as well as the 1982 Conflict and its aftermath in detail. It has already caused controversy ahead of publication. Sir Lawrence Freedman is quoted by the Mail on Sunday as saying: "There are some people not all that pleased with the fact the book is coming out".
Since 1982, the Falkland Islands have enjoyed unprecedented prosperity, diversifying from traditional sheep farming to develop a fishing industry, encourage tourism, build a new airport, a new school, a new hospital and a new abattoir, and using its new found wealth to encourage higher education for its children in United Kingdom colleges and universities. Several firms have been exploring for offshore oil, and there are plans to search inland for precious minerals such as gold and diamonds.
By contrast, Argentina has been plagued by corruption, crime and economic crisis, reneging on the biggest foreign debt by any country in history. Many of its 35-million people live in poverty, though the economy is now prospering from a surge in exports, especially of grain and other agricultural exports. Many former military men could face trial for kidnap, torture and murder of their own people, committed during Argentina's so-called internal "Dirty War" during the dictatorships headed by Generals Videla, Viola and Galtieri between 1976 and 1983, when democracy was restored in place of a discredited military forced to abdicate by defeat in the Falklands War. Amnesty laws passed to protect the military from prosecution have recently been declared unconstitutional by Argentina's Supreme Court.
Harold Briley, London
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