The Royal Navy announced that Portsmouth-based warship HMS Dauntless sails on Wednesday, April 4, for a six-month routine deployment to the South Atlantic, relieving HMS Montrose that is on her way back home.
In a display of “Latin American support for Argentina’s legitimate rights,” the Peruvian government announced on Monday its decision to render void the protocol visit of a British frigate scheduled to dock in a Peruvian port this week.
Argentine claims that the UK is ‘militarizing’ the South Atlantic and the Falklands are ‘unfounded’ and ‘baseless’ according to a letter from British ambassador Mark Lyall-Grant addressed to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
It took a couple of days but finally on Wednesday US State Department spokesperson Victoria Nuland said the US “has no concerns” about the alleged ‘militarization’ of the South Atlantic which was denounced by Argentina last week before the United Nations at three different levels.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon voiced hope that Argentina and the United Kingdom can avoid escalating their dispute over the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) and resolve their differences through dialogue.
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez gave instructions for the formal complaint before the United Nations accusing the United Kingdom of ‘militarization’ of the South Atlantic and Malvinas Islands be presented on Friday, according to a release from the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
UK’s Prince William arrived on Thursday to the Falkland Islands amid simmering tensions between Britain and Argentina over the disputed South Atlantic Islands and in the year of the 30th anniversary of the Falklands conflict.
The British government confirmed that Prince William begins this Wednesday his six week deployment in the disputed Falkland Islands as a helicopter pilot when he flies out from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire tonight.
Argentina condemned the announcement of the arrival of state of the art HMS Dauntless, a British warship, to the Falklands/Malvinas Islands and urged the UK to “avoid falling in the temptation of engaging in discourse that transforms patriotism in bullying patriotism.”
The UK press reports that the Royal Navy is to send one of its most powerful warships to the Falkland Islands as tensions rise with Argentina over the disputed territory.