MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands: begins second phase to identify Argentine soldiers remains

The Argentine military cemetery at Darwin

The accord for the second phase of the humanitarian initiative to identify the remains of Argentine combatants buried at the Argentine military cemetery in the Falkland Islands is scheduled to be signed this Thursday in Geneva, while work could be starting by next August.

According to a release from the Argentine Foreign affairs ministry, efforts are expected to concentrate in identifying remains in the multiple grave C1 10. During the first humanitarian phase in 2017 the grave was not anonymous, because since 2004 it supposedly identified a Gendarmerie second lieutenant and three Air Force soldiers. However after collecting DNA samples from family members it emerged in 2018 that they were buried in three individual graves, only identified as “Argentine soldier only known to God”. So thus the need to further explore remains in the C1 10 grave.

The signing ceremony on Thursday will take place in Geneva, seat of the International Committee of the Red Cross with the presence of UK and Argentine ambassadors and Peter Maurer, president of the ICRC. During the first phase of the humanitarian project to identify the remains in 122 graves at the Argentine military cemetery in Darwin, the plan was very successful giving names to 115 tombs until then only identified as “Argentine soldier, only known to God.”