Argentina to challenge UK over Malvinas
The exploration operations of some British companies in an area north of the Malvinas Islands have outraged Argentine government which has threatened to challenge all exploration and drilling efforts in court.
Argentine Foreign Affairs Ministry and the Planning Ministry are going to carry out a joint legal case against the oil and gas explorations.
Argentina says that drilling for oil off the Falkland Islands is illegal and the Argentinean embassy in London issued a statement in November 2013 that British oil executives face up to 15 years in prison and fines equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil as well as the confiscation of equipment and any hydrocarbons extracted.
On the other side, the UK Foreign Office disputed the claim and said “the UK government unequivocally supports the right of the Falkland Islanders to develop their natural resources for their own economic benefit.”
Experts say this is part of the UK’s imperial approach towards the disputed islands.
“Because it was a colonial power, it had global territories all over the world and really I think you know the current government and the previous government in Britain have tried to flex their muscles to tell the world that Falklands belong to them,” London-based political commentator Shabbir Razvi told Press TV.
He went on referring to the referendum held on 2013 in the Malvinas saying: “They have these elections, only one was held at 2013, a self-determination referendum so-called in the Falklands or Malvinas as the Argentineans call it, to show to the world that the people living on these islands want to be part of Britain, but the reality is that Britain is no longer a global empire and I suspect if any kind of military activity takes place nearly 30 years later, I don’t think have the support of many nations.”
According to Razvi, there is a strong trend in the world maintaining that the Malvinas should not be part of the UK adding Argentina has a good possibility of getting its sovereignty over the islands.
“I suspect it has to be done through more diplomatic means rather than military and the reality is that Britain really is trying to look back at its historical imperial and colonial history and wants to continue to occupy Falkland Islands,” he concluded.
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