Yommie
Elite Member
(Bloomberg) -- UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron plans to visit the Falkland Islands soon in a show of British sovereignty over the archipelago, after newly-elected Argentine President Javier Milei pledged to “get them back.”
Cameron could visit the Falklands as soon as next week, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity discussing travel plans that aren’t finalized.
He’ll be in the region for a Group of Twenty foreign ministers meeting in Rio de Janeiro that starts on Wednesday. The Foreign Office declined to comment.
The UK in 2023 dismissed a suggestion from Milei that Argentina could gain sovereignty over the islands in the South Atlantic Ocean “through diplomatic channels.”
Read more: Why Argentina’s New Leader Pushed Claim to Falkland Islands
Argentina’s claim to what it calls the Islas Malvinas has been upheld by successive governments since the country gained independence in the 1800s. People living on the archipelago overwhelmingly prefer to remain British, with 99.8% of the islanders having voted for it to remain a British territory in a referendum held in 2013.
In 1982, Argentine forces invaded the Falklands, triggering a 10-week war with the UK which cost the lives of 649 Argentine troops, 255 British military personnel and three islanders. During his election campaign, Milei called for Argentina to recover the Falklands via a negotiated treaty.
“There is no question of the sovereignty of the islands,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman Max Blain said when Milei was elected in 2023.
Cameron could visit the Falklands as soon as next week, according to people familiar with the matter, who spoke on the condition of anonymity discussing travel plans that aren’t finalized.
He’ll be in the region for a Group of Twenty foreign ministers meeting in Rio de Janeiro that starts on Wednesday. The Foreign Office declined to comment.
The UK in 2023 dismissed a suggestion from Milei that Argentina could gain sovereignty over the islands in the South Atlantic Ocean “through diplomatic channels.”
Read more: Why Argentina’s New Leader Pushed Claim to Falkland Islands
Argentina’s claim to what it calls the Islas Malvinas has been upheld by successive governments since the country gained independence in the 1800s. People living on the archipelago overwhelmingly prefer to remain British, with 99.8% of the islanders having voted for it to remain a British territory in a referendum held in 2013.
In 1982, Argentine forces invaded the Falklands, triggering a 10-week war with the UK which cost the lives of 649 Argentine troops, 255 British military personnel and three islanders. During his election campaign, Milei called for Argentina to recover the Falklands via a negotiated treaty.
“There is no question of the sovereignty of the islands,” Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s spokesman Max Blain said when Milei was elected in 2023.
