Argentina seeks talks over old conflict with UK

With Britain entering negotiations to hand over its other imperial vestiges, Buenos Aires wants the Falklands back

The Argentine Foreign Ministry requested on Thursday that Britain comply with a UN resolution and resume talks on the sovereignty of the Malvinas (Falkland) Islands. The request came after London agreed to negotiate with Mauritius over the future of the Chagos Islands.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Thursday that the UK wants to “resolve all outstanding issues” with Mauritius over the Chagos Archipelago, a British territory in the Indian Ocean since 1814 that remained under British control after Mauritius won its independence from the UK in 1968. Ignored by London for decades, a UN resolution compels Britain to reach a settlement with Mauritius over the islands.

Guillermo Carmona, an official at the Argentine Foreign Ministry, said that Britain’s decision to enter talks with Mauritius marks “a transcendental day for all the peoples who fight to put an end to colonialism.”

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Carmona said that just as it is honoring the UN resolution on the Chagos Islands, Britain “must comply with resolution 2065 on the Malvinas Question.” The resolution in question calls on London and Buenos Aires to negotiate sovereignty over the islands, which are called the Malvinas by Argentina and the Falklands by the UK.

Britain has administered the islands since 1833, and won a war with Argentina over them in 1982. Argentina still claims sovereignty over the archipelago, however, arguing that it acquired them from Spain when it won its independence in 1816.

While Argentina issues regular calls to Britain to honor resolution 2065, the UK refuses. Britain insists that a 2013 referendum – in which nearly 100% of the islands’ 3,400 residents voted to remain a British overseas territory – renders negotiations pointless.

Friday marks the 40th anniversary of UN General Assembly resolution 37/9, which stated that "the maintenance of colonial situations is incompatible with the ideal of universal peace of the United Nations,” and called on the UK and Argentina to “find a peaceful solution” to the Malvinas/Falklands dispute.

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