Argentine authorities have called on Britain to resume negotiations on the disputed Falkland Islands, after London handed over the Chagos archipelago to Mauritius, a statement from the South American country's Foreign Ministry said.
„In this context, Argentina once again calls on the United Kingdom to resume negotiations on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, South Georgia Islands, the South Sandwich Islands and adjacent maritime territories, as established by UN General Assembly Resolution 2065“, the text says.
According to the Argentine Foreign Ministry, "the agreement between Britain and Mauritius is an example that shows that such disputes can be resolved peacefully".
„This is an event from "historical significance in the process of decolonization," Buenos Aires believes.
On May 22, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the signing of an agreement with Mauritius to transfer the Chagos archipelago in the central Indian Ocean under its sovereignty, which implies the preservation of a British-American military base on the island of Diego Garcia.
The Falkland Islands, located in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean, have been the subject of a territorial dispute between Argentina and Great Britain for 200 years. In April 1982, an armed conflict broke out between the countries. The South American republic suffered a defeat in it, losing 649 soldiers in two and a half months of fighting. The British side suffered 255 casualties.
In March 2013, the vast majority of the inhabitants of the archipelago voted in a referendum to keep the territory under the control of the kingdom. Argentina does not recognize the results of the plebiscite.