MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Falklands: 46 minefields to be cleared in two years pledges Foreign Office
Falkland Islanders can expect a total of 46 minefields cleared over the next two years in the Mount Longdon and Stanley area confirmed a Foreign and Commonwealth Office delegation in the Falklands this week. Mines are the long lasting and unwanted legacy of the 1982 war. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesIs Argentina paying for this?
Jan 13th, 2017 - 04:49 pm - Link - Report abuse +5If not perhaps we should return their mines in a leaky old freighter which happens to sink in one of the narrow approaches to BA.
m
£20m? Peanuts really.
Jan 13th, 2017 - 05:40 pm - Link - Report abuse +3Absolutely,peanuts,so even Argentina can afford to reimburse us.
Jan 13th, 2017 - 07:55 pm - Link - Report abuse +5Whose mines are they,anyway?
M
Ermmmm....
Jan 13th, 2017 - 08:02 pm - Link - Report abuse -8http://www.nolandmines.com/UK_debt_to_Libya.htm
This really should have been dealt with years ago, it should have been prioritised more,
Jan 13th, 2017 - 08:43 pm - Link - Report abuse +2Still-perhaps one day ?
Have we even asked them to reimburse us?
Jan 13th, 2017 - 09:14 pm - Link - Report abuse +3Nothing in the reference stops us from returning them.
Why should we we nice to Argentina?
Brexit,you will say.
Thus,apparently,proving that two wrongs can,sometimes make a right?
More robustness,I think.
M
Argentina doesn't pay for nor take responsibility for the removal of the land mines in the Falklands because it recognises that the minefields are not in Argentine national territory.
Jan 13th, 2017 - 10:15 pm - Link - Report abuse +4Argentina's unwillingness to remove THEIR mines shows the total hypocrisy of their position, and actually demonstrates, as indicated by Mr Llazo that their is an implicit acknowledgement that the Islands do not belong to them. After all, if Argentina claims it would respect the rights of the Islanders if they wanted the Islands to be part of their territory, surely they would have fallen over themselves to have them removed?
Jan 13th, 2017 - 11:33 pm - Link - Report abuse +3The fact that they are only just being cleared by the UK government says it all.
An alternate point of view..money saving too...
Jan 14th, 2017 - 12:47 am - Link - Report abuse -6”he Falklands War also left the penguins with a bizarre kind of habitat protection. During Argentina’s occupation of the islands, its military laid down landmines along the beaches and pastureland near the capital city to deter the British from reclaiming the area. So far, these landmines haven’t killed anyone, but the well-marked and fenced-off explosive zones have made for prime penguin habitat. The penguins aren’t heavy enough to set off the mines, but because sheep and humans are, the little guys have the minefields all to themselves.
Today, there are still an estimated 20,000 landmines on the Falkland Islands. Over the years, they’ve come in pretty handy not only for protecting the penguin habitat from over-grazing, but also for keeping out overzealous tourists. Consequently, Falkland Islanders have decided that maybe having landmines isn’t such a bad thing. After all, signs warning “Keep away from the penguins” will never be as effective as “Keep away from the penguins—or die.”
“Keep away from the penguins—or die.”
Jan 14th, 2017 - 02:40 am - Link - Report abuse +3thanks, Mike Bingham
I think the original as “Keep away the argies.”
Jan 14th, 2017 - 03:12 am - Link - Report abuse +6Ha ha Marti !
Jan 14th, 2017 - 04:29 am - Link - Report abuse +3Very funny!
Voice - what a stupid post. The shameful use of mines by Argentina should be acknowledged by them and the cost of removing them be entirely borne by that banana republic!
Jan 14th, 2017 - 06:29 am - Link - Report abuse +6Gordo, hay minas y hay minas, y todas son peligrosas.
Jan 14th, 2017 - 12:23 pm - Link - Report abuse +2To those who think Arg should pay/remove mines in Falklands:
Jan 14th, 2017 - 04:10 pm - Link - Report abuse +3General accepted system of those who signed the Ottowa Demining Convention is that the Country where the mines are- does the removal. Falklands are Br Territory - so Br responsibility even though not laid by UK.
If UK were to say - Argentina - you pay. Then Egypt,Tunisia,Libya,Algeria etc etc - could all send the bill to UK for those hundred and thousands on minefields laid in the desert in WW2 - and all the explosives laying about in the desert!
Not quite the same issue,is it.
Jan 14th, 2017 - 06:46 pm - Link - Report abuse 0They,the argies,were invading another country,we were protecting and liberating another country.
Anyway,it is preposterous to defend argentina for they,until recently,could hardly qualify as a Sovereign state.
The UN has,as usual,been silent on this one.
High time its mandate was changed and its resources.
We need a world government,and we needed it about a century ago.
M
England will return the Malvinas within 25 years.
Jan 15th, 2017 - 02:14 am - Link - Report abuse -3Islander1
Jan 16th, 2017 - 01:46 pm - Link - Report abuse +1I think you'll find that there were also Italians, Germans, Americans, French etc etc busily laying land mines in North Africa. In fact if you read Barrie Pitt's trilogy about the war in NA you'll find that the vast majority of mines were laid by the Italians (Libya) and French (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia)
If Hepatirus is correct we might ad well leave them there then.
Jan 16th, 2017 - 04:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0But I expect that we shall just trade a small bit of Tierra del Fuego,or Patagonia,pwrhaps for The Falklands,as we shall own both those territories within the next twenty five years.
M
Merlin, better talk to the residents before you go predicting trades.
Jan 16th, 2017 - 04:58 pm - Link - Report abuse +1I suspect that Argentina will be selling Tierra del Fuego to Chile and turning Chubut and Neuquén over to the Chinese to help pay for some soon to be nonperforming argie bond issues.
Patagonia to the Falkland's perhaps ?
Jan 16th, 2017 - 08:17 pm - Link - Report abuse +1Commenting for this story is now closed.
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