2013-02-05 21:45
Port Stanley, Falklands (Picture: Supplied)
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London - Argentina expects to have control of the
British-held Falkland Islands within 20 years, the country's foreign minister
said in comments published on Tuesday.
During a visit to London, Hector Timerman said in a joint
interview with The Independent and The Guardian newspapers that Argentina would
not take military action but that Britain would be forced to compromise soon.
"I don’t think it will take another 20 years,"
he was quoted as saying by the newspapers.
"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."
He added: "We don’t support the occupation of
foreign lands, and the Malvinas case is the occupation of a foreign land."
Britain has held the islands in the South Atlantic since
1833, but Argentine forces invaded in 1982, prompting then British prime minister
Margaret Thatcher to send a naval task force to reclaim control in a brief but
bloody war.
Timerman's comments come amid an escalating war of words
some 40 days before Falkland Islands' residents go to the polls 10-11 March to
say whether they want the archipelago to remain a British overseas territory.
On Thursday, Timerman refused an offer by British Foreign
Secretary William Hague to meet with Falkland Islands officials during his
visit, a move that Britain described as disappointing.
But Timerman said in the interview published on Tuesday
that Britain "has never missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity to
find a solution for the Malvinas".
He said Argentina would "respect the rights" of
Falkland Islanders but said there was no obligation on him to discuss the issue
with them directly.
"I don't have to persuade them. The United Nations
says there is a conflict between the United Kingdom and Argentina," he
said.
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