UK insists Falkland Islands remain British as Argentina walks away from pact

The United Kingdom (UK) government on Thursday (March 2) insisted that the Falkland Islands remain British as Argentina walked away from a cooperation pact and demanded fresh talks over their sovereignty. During the G20 summit in India's capital, New Delhi, Argentina's Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero informed his British counterpart James Cleverly that his government was abandoning the pact.

Taking to Twitter, Cafiero renewed Argentina's longstanding demands instead for negotiations about the islands at the UN in New York. "Argentina notified the decision to put an end to the “Foradori-Duncan Pact” of 2016," the foreign minister tweeted.

In response to the tweets, James Cleverly said that the Falkland Islands are British, adding, "Islanders have the right to decide their own future - they have chosen to remain a self-governing UK Overseas Territory."

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Argentina's decision comes as David Rutley, Britain's Minister for the Americas, was visiting Buenos Aires. Rudley tweeted on Thursday that the decision was disappointing. "A disappointing decision after my constructive visit to Buenos Aires. Argentina has chosen to step away from an agreement that has brought comfort to the families of those who died in the 1982 conflict. Argentina, the UK and the Falklands all benefited from this agreement," Rudley tweeted.

The Falkland Islands were the subject of a short brutal war after Argentina invaded them in 1982. Britain drove out the invading force after dispatching a naval armada. The conflict claimed the lives of 649 Argentinian soldiers, 255 British servicemen, and three women who lived on the island.

In 2016, the two countries agreed to disagree about sovereignty but to cooperate on issues such as energy, shipping and fishing, and on identifying the remains of unknown Argentine soldiers killed in battle, the news agency AFP reported. And last year, they marked the 40th anniversary of the conflict.

(With inputs from agencies)

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