Jan Cheek, one of two members of the Falkland Islands assembly, met with Mr
Hague and expressed disappointment Mr Timermans was not there to hear the
views of the Islanders first hand.
"Sadly, there was an empty chair in the room, as the Argentine Foreign
Minister declined to attend," she said. "We are disappointed, but hardly
surprised. Argentina prefers to disregard our existence, rather than engage
constructively with the people who have lived on the Falkland Islands for so
many generations."
His latest comments come a day after he told MPs that Buenos Aires would not
recognise the result of a referendum of the islanders next month on whether
they wish to remain part of the British overseas territories.
He
also said that the islands would be under Argentine control within 20 years,
while denouncing the British as "fanatics" and comparing the
British claim to Israel's occupation of the West Bank.
“I don’t think it will take another 20 years. 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,” he said.
“We don’t support the occupation of foreign lands, and the Malvinas case is
the occupation of a foreign land.”
The Falklands
Islands parliament has written to Mr Timerman warning him "no
amount of harassment and intimidation" would change their minds that
they do not want to be ruled from Buenos Aires.
Argentina claims sovereignty over the archipelago and its forces invaded the
territory in 1982 before UK troops retook it after a war that claimed the
lives of 255 British military personnel, three islanders and 649
Argentinians.
Argentine president Cristina Kirchner has in recent years strongly asserted
her country’s demands for the Falklands to come under its sovereignty
despite the opposition of the islanders.