Argentina 'will control Falklands'

Feb 5 2013

Argentina will control the Falkland Islands within 20 years, the country's foreign minister claims.

Visiting London for the first time, Hector Timerman ruled out a military solution to the long-standing dispute over sovereignty, but said Britain was internationally isolated in its claim to the islands.

In a joint interview with The Guardian and The Independent, he denounced the British as "fanatics" and said they were only interested in the islands because of their oil reserves.

"The United Kingdom has never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity to find a solution for the Malvinas (the Argentine name for the islands)," he said.

"I don't think it will take another 20 years. I think that the world is going through a process of understanding more and more that this is a colonial issue, an issue of colonialism, and that the people living there were transferred to the islands."

Mr Timerman defended his refusal to meet Foreign Secretary William Hague during his visit after the Foreign Office insisted on representatives of the Falklanders being present at the talks.

"There is not one single country in the world which supports the right of the United Kingdom to govern over the Malvinas. Not one," he said.

"According to the United Nations, there are only two parties to the conflict - the United Kingdom and the Republic of Argentina. It is an issue that has to be resolved by Argentina and the United Kingdom," he said.

"By introducing a third party (the Falklanders), the United Kingdom is changing more than 40 resolutions by the United Nations, which call the two countries to negotiate."

Mr Timerman dismissed next month's planned referendum of the islanders on whether they want to remain part of the British Overseas Territories as meaningless.