MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands: Red Cross advance team collects information for forensic team

UK and Argentina signed the accord for the identification of the 123 Argentine combatant remains buried in Darwin cemetery in Falklands

The International Red Cross mission which spent nine days in the Falklands gathering information and finalizing plans for the team that will identify Argentine unknown soldiers buried in the Darwin cemetery sometime in June/July, have left the Islands.

 “The Red Cross two member team which travelled to the Falklands/Malvinas last week are leaving this weekend. Now that they have the information and needed logistics, they will be elaborating the budget”, according to Argentina foreign ministry sources.

Although all details have not been defined, the main field mission that will be working in the Falklands sometime next June/July will be financed by a 1.2 Swiss Francs budget. The mission will include forensic experts from Argentina and the UK.

According to what was agreed in meetings held earlier this year in Geneva and London, UK and Argentina will be sending names to the international Red Cross, which will then chose two per side based on their professional backgrounds.

The list of forensic experts to be presented by Argentina will include names recommended by the Foreign ministry, the Malvinas Families Committee, the Forensic Anthropology Team and Human Rights Secretariat, according to the diplomatic sources in Buenos Aires.

Names will be sent before March since the Red Cross must make its own choices, and begin preparing the mission, which will have 8 to 10 members of which two from Argentina and two from UK.

Last December in Geneva UK and Argentina signed the final accord for the identification of the 123 Argentine combatant remains buried in Darwin although it will only involve those which have been specifically authorized by their next of kin.

DNA samples will be analyzed at the Argentine Team of Forensic Anthropology lab, which was accepted by both sides given its international prestige and knowhow built on the identification of remains of disappeared in Argentina during the last military dictatorship.

Following the extraction of DNA samples the remains will be reburied in new coffins. However the Red Cross team experts warns that not necessarily all soldiers will be identified since much depends on the condition of remains.

Science allowing by the end of the year or early 2018 the first identities should be available, thus Argentine diplomats have warned relatives that the process will take time.

The DNA identification of Argentine combatants remains in Darwin was agreed and included in the September Argentina/UK joint statement as part of a major effort to improve bilateral relations. Negotiations on the task have been ongoing with decisive participation of Falklands representatives as part of the British delegation.