The Falkland Islands elected government has reacted to a raft of reports from Argentina announcing a trip to the Islands, sometime in the second half of March by the relatives of the 88 soldiers, buried at Darwin cemetery, which have been recently identified by a team of forensic experts working under the International Red Cross Committee.
Members of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) currently visiting the Falkland Islands have stated they are quite clear on the wishes of the Argentine families, in relation to the potential future identification of remains of unknown Argentine soldiers in the Argentine memorial at Darwin.
The elected government of the Falkland Islands (FIG) has not received any formal request from Argentina or the International Red Cross, ICRC to exhume and identify Argentine soldiers buried at Darwin, according to the last edition of Penguin News, the Falklands' weekly.
The Malvinas and South Atlantic Islands fallen next of kin commission, in a public statement said that exhuming and identifying remains of Argentine soldiers buried in the Falkland Islands Darwin cemetery is a most personal issue for each family, strictly humanitarian, not decided and thus rejects any political intentionality in recent statements on the matter.
Argentine President Cristina Fernández on the 32nd anniversary of the Malvinas Islands invasion by Argentine forces which triggered war (and defeat) with the UK, questioned the British government for not abiding by UN resolutions calling for Falklands sovereignty talks and suggested UK should be less involved in wars and more in looking after its own people.
On request from a group of human rights representatives from Chaco, Argentina, Falkland Islands lawmakers met and listened to their views on a number of issues resulting from the 1982 war. The meeting followed a formal request from the group directly to the Falklands elected Legislative Assembly.
President Cristina Fernandez announced on Tuesday that 91 next of kin of Argentine combatants buried in NN graves at the Falkland Islands Darwin memorial have agreed and signed to have the remains DNA tested and clearly identified.
The International Red Cross pledged it will again contact British authorities with Argentina’s request for special forensic groups to travel to the Falklands to identify combatants buried in Islands’ unnamed graves.
Vice President Amado Boudou called for a ‘concrete reply’ to Argentina’s request for the International Red Cross to collaborate with the identification of the combatants fallen during the Falkland Islands conflict in 1982 and whose remains are buried at the cemetery in Darwin.
Argentine Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman replied to recent demands of an apology made by UK Defence Minister Phillip Hammond over a controversial Olympic advert shot in the Falkland Islands, and urged London to “honour the deaths of those who died in the 1982 conflict by constructing peace.”