Falklands: Argentina Government Accuses UK Of ‘Militarization’

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“The Argentine Republic rejects the British attempt to militarize a conflict that the United Nations has already said must be solved through bilateral negotiations between both nations … The Argentine population also regrets the fact that Prince William will be arriving in the Malvinas as a member of the armed forces of his country dressing the uniform of “conqueror and not with the wisdom of a statesman that works for peace and dialogue among nations”.

This was Argentina’s reaction, in a statement released by the Foreign Ministry of the government of President Cristina Fernández, to the announcement by London of the deployment of one of the UK Royal Navy’s most powerful new warships, HMS Dauntless, to be sent in place of the frigate HMS Montrose to patrol the South Atlantic, including the Malvinas (Falkland Islands), on which it claims sovereignty.

The Buenos Aires government statement furthermore calls for “more diplomacy and less weapons”, slamming Prince William’s deployment to the Islands on a six-week post as an RAF (Royal Air Force) search and rescue pilot.

“Governments should avoid the temptation of delivering speeches that turn patriotism into jingoism aiming to divert public opinion from adjustment economic policies in a context of structural crisis and high unemployment”, continues the statement.

This marked further Argentine criticism of London ahead of the 30th anniversary of the 1982 Malvinas War between the two countries, which left 649 Argentine and 255 British soldiers dead.

The archipelago, occupied by the UK in 1833, today counts 3,000 inhabitants and around a thousand British soldiers, and recently drew renewed UK interest due to its off-shore petroleum resources.

MISNA

MISNA, or the Missionary International Service News Agency, provides daily news ‘from, about and for’ the 'world’s Souths', not just in the geographical sense, since December 1997.

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