Thirty years on, conflict still festering

Thirty years ago a remote South Atlantic island chain was thrust into the global glare as Britain and Argentina went to war over the Falklands, triggering a bitter conflict which rankles to this day.

The brief, but bloody 74-day war, which triggered Britain’s biggest air and naval battle since World War II, cost the lives of 649 Argentine and 255 British troops...

Three decades later, the windswept archipelago and its worried people remains at the centre of an ugly dispute pitting London and Buenos Aires, as political tensions flare again despite a new generation of leaders.

Argentine dictator General Leopoldo Galtieri, who ordered the April 2, 1982 dawn invasion of the islands as a welcome distraction from domestic economic woes, and former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, are now footnotes of history.

The brief, but bloody 74-day war, which triggered Britain’s biggest air and naval battle since World War II, cost the lives of 649 Argentine and 255 British troops and three Falkland Islanders.

It ended in defeat for Argentina and sealed Galtier’s fate. He was ousted within a year, and Ms Thatcher went on to become Britain’s longest serving Prime Minister of the 20th century, reigning until 1990.

Despite the passage of time, their legacy still casts long shadows over the two nations, divided by language and culture and some 12,000 kilometres of vast ocean.

Even though for most, the long-ago conflict in a place almost at the ends of the earth pales by comparison to current uprisings, a new war of words is again souring relations.

As the anniversary approaches, Argentine President Cristina Kirchner has denounced British rule of the islands – held by Britain since 1833 and other nations before – as an “anachronism”.

Her government has also accused Britain of militarising the seas around the islands (Malvinas), and is now infuriated that London has allowed oil exploration to start up in the surrounding waters.

The deployment of Prince William on a six-week mission with the Royal Air Force earlier this year sparked outrage in Argentina, following the news about oil, which has persuaded some neighbours to refuse entry to ships bearing the Falklands flag.

Falkland Islanders – known affectionately as “kelpers’ after the seaweed –say the blockade is beginning to bite, depriving them of fresh vegetables and produce on islands known for being good for sheep-rearing and little else. They are entitled to the self-right of government under the UN charter.

Buenos Aires is also taking its renewed battle over the islands to international bodies, touting its claims at the United Nations and even a nuclear summit held this week in Seoul.

London points out that under UN law for overseas territory, population about 3,000, want to remain part of Britain, and accuses Argentina of being “colonialist” by refusing them the right of self-determination.

It has also angrily dismissed Argentine claims it has sent a nuclear-armed submarine to the South Atlantic.

In an unusually frank clash before more than 50 world leaders at the Seoul summit, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said accusations by Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman were “unfounded, baseless insinuations.”