MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina decries British “show of force” in South Atlantic

Argentina's Foreign Ministry said Britain's deployments contravened UN resolutions

Argentina's Foreign Ministry has labeled a new military deployment by the United Kingdom in the Falkland Islands as “a new and unjustified show of force and a deliberate departure from the calls of the numerous resolutions of the United Nations and other international organizations.”

The Ministry's statement also pointed out that the “Argentine Republic rejects in the strongest terms the new deployment of British military weapons in the Malvinas Islands,” after the installation of the new-generation ground-based Sky Saber anti-aircraft system was reported. The new system replaces Rapier-type missiles and triples their range, according to military experts.

The administration of President Alberto Fernández insisted the United Nations and other international organizations had urged both Argentina and the United Kingdom to resume negotiations, in order to find a peaceful and definitive solution to the sovereignty dispute “that involves both countries in the Question of the Malvinas Islands.”

The document also highlighted the United Kingdom expanding its military armament in the South Atlantic specifically contravened resolution 31/49 of the United Nations General Assembly, which urges both parties to refrain from adopting unilateral decisions which involved the introduction of changes in the situation, pending negotiations.

The military presence also contradicts General Assembly resolution 41/11 (Zone of Peace and Cooperation in the South Atlantic) which, among other provisions, “urges the States of all other regions, especially the militarily important States, to that they scrupulously respect the South Atlantic region as a zone of peace and cooperation, in particular by reducing and eventually eliminating their military presence in that region,” the Foreign Ministry went on and stressed the alleged defensive condition of the British military base in the South Atlantic “is not only totally unjustified but also represents a threat to the entire area.”

Argentina's diplomatic office said the UK's measures were “new acts of hostility” and insisted on the South American country's “peaceful vocation” and “permanent and constant will to resume negotiations with the United Kingdom in order to reach a definitive solution to the sovereignty dispute.”