Falkland Islands governor Nigel Haywood said that the “Islanders will reply in next month’s referendum” whether Argentina could be in control of the Malvinas archipelago ‘within twenty years’, as was announced by Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman earlier this week in London.
By Peter Pepper - Private conferences have long been used by pressure groups to get something they want onto the public agenda. The so-called Argentine-British Conferences were like this. They were an Argentine idea, and the so-called 'British' delegations were largely controlled by, and packed with, Falklands’ opponents in Britain. They achieved the nickname the Argentine Biased Conferences or the Anti-British Conferences. But they failed in their objective and faded away.
At least two Uruguayan lawmakers have confirmed to the British embassy in Montevideo that they will be travelling to the Falkland Islands next March for the referendum on the Islands political status and future. The trips are financed by the embassy and according to parliament sources in Montevideo the list could become longer.The news was published in a Montevideo weekly.
This Friday the Malvinas Forum, chapter Uruguay will be celebrating its first anniversary and is expected to announce a statement strongly rejecting the coming referendum in the Falklands on the Islands political status which is scheduled for March 10/11. The meeting will be held in Maldonado where it was originally launched.
Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman said on Thursday that the British government’s position on the Falklands/Malvinas Islands issue “smells too much like petroleum”, revealing that UK’s biggest interest in keeping the invaded archipelago is due to the potential oil findings.
An Argentine columnist has found two great virtues: audacity and tolerance in Foreign Minister Hector Timerman current incursion in London to lobby and argue in favour of the most intransigent of Argentina’s position on the Falklands’ dispute.
There is no such thing as Falkland Islanders, the Argentine Foreign minister Hector Timerman insisted during a press conference in London on Wednesday, claiming they are British citizens living in disputed islands. He claimed the United Nations only acknowledges two parties in the territorial dispute: UK and Argentina.
European personalities from politics, culture and academia meeting in London for a two-day event expressed their support for Argentina’s claim over the Falklands/Malvinas Islands and signed a declaration calling on the UK to resume discussions for a peaceful and definitive solution to the ongoing dispute.
The Argentine government refusal to speak to the Falkland Islands representatives is ‘unacceptable” in this day and age of modern democracies. Nevertheless the two Falklands lawmakers currently in London have said they would be very happy to meet with Foreign Minister Hector Timerman at any time this week to have “a rational conversation as one human being to another”.
British Member of Parliament Alun Cairns, and a member of the All Party Group on Argentina, said he was offended by some the comments made by Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman during their meeting to discuss the Falklands issue on Tuesday in the House of Commons.