MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK reaffirms Falklands’ self determination and British sovereignty

UK Foreign Secretary William Hague

The British Foreign Office reaffirmed Wednesday the right to self determination of the Falkland Islands and dismissed the latest statements calling for sovereignty negotiations over the Islands with Argentina.

“The principle of self determination stands, as stated by the United Nations’ charter. There cannot be any negotiations on sovereignty unless the Islanders wish for them”, said a spokesperson from the Foreign Office.

The spokesperson insisted that Britain has “no doubts” about sovereignty over the Falklands and its adjoining maritime spaces.

The statements come a day after the Organization of American States General Assembly meeting in Lima, Peru, called for the quick resumption of negotiations on the disputed Falkland Islands sovereignty with the purpose of finding ‘a peaceful and definitive solution to the ongoing controversy’.

Following a debate on Tuesday at the OAS general assembly in which the US representative abstained from participating, Washington nevertheless called for fresh (bilateral) talks between Argentina and the UK.

The Obama administration official line on the issue was announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a recent visit to Buenos Aires: “we would like to see Argentina and the United Kingdom sit down and resolve the issues between them across the table in a peaceful, productive way.“

The OAS assembly also decided “to continue examining the issue of the Malvinas Islands until its definitive solution”.

However the Foreign Office said that the US continues to deal with the Falklands as a British overseas territory.

”The American position is that they recognize the UK administration on the Falklands,“ said a Foreign Office spokesman. ”There is no change in their overall approach“.

Argentina has become increasingly outspoken over the Falklands in recent months as British firms start exploring the Islands territorial waters for oil.

Argentina’s Foreign Affairs minister has said that the Malvinas and its territorial waters are part of Argentine territory ”occupied by Britain as an act of force“.

”Argentina never has stopped underscoring its will to negotiate on a peaceful settlement“ he said. ”[London] refuses to re-establish dialogue rejecting United Nations resolutions and other calls from the international community“.

Meantime in Buenos Aires Vice Chancellor Victorio Taccetti speaking before Congress said that there is a growing ”global awareness“ towards the United Kingdom's ”occupying attitude on the Malvinas Islands“, and questioned the installation of several oil platforms on Argentina's continental areas.

”I believe our work is creating a growing global awareness that understands this occupying attitude on the islands has to end“ said Taccetti.

Regarding the installation of the oil platforms, he added that ”they are trying to exploit resources that don't belong to them, besides the environmental impact their actions would have in the region could be terrible, such as what is currently happening in the Gulf of Mexico“.

”Argentina is taking concrete measures in the international community to stop corporations from exploiting the Malvinas. We believe in order to do so, they should first be cleared by us,” he concluded.