UK-Argentina in Diplomatic Row over Archipelago

Buenos Aires brought its concerns about the Falkland Islands to the United Nations this week as a dispute with the United Kingdom heated up over the archipelago’s sovereignty. While Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner drew support for her country’s territorial claims from fellow Latin American leaders during the Rio Group summit, a British company began drilling operations in the Falkland basin. A Spanish-Argentine partnership announced intentions to explore for oil as well, but in Argentine territory. The prospect of large oil reserves has brought a new twist on a decades-old disagreement over the Falklands—or Malvinas.

Twenty-eight years ago, Argentina and Great Britain fought over the area's sovereignty during the Falklands War. Yet the territory dispute dates back to well before 1982. Fernández de Kirchner pointed out during her remarks at the Rio Group Summit that Argentina filed its first request for Great Britain to turn over the islands 177 years ago. During the summit in Cancun, Mexico, Fernández de Kirchner won what the UK’s Times Online termed “unprecedented support” for the sovereignty claim from her Latin American counterparts. “Our attitude is one of solidarity with Argentina,” said Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the summit. “What is the geographical, political and economic explanation for England to be in the Malvinas?”

A day later, Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana met with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to protest offshore drilling by British company Desire Petroleum’s “Ocean Guardian” rig. Taiana requested the UN press London into talks on the matter, saying the UK violated a UN resolution by unilaterally making the decision to allow drilling in disputed territory. In 1995, Buenos Aires and London signed a joint declaration outlining cooperation on exploration in the Falklands/Malvinas region, but the Argentines rejected the pact in 2007 because the sovereignty question remained unresolved. The UN has approved a number of resolutions related to the area’s sovereignty and has called for a peaceful solution.

In the meantime, neither side appears willing to budge. “We have absolutely no doubt about our sovereignty over the Falkland Islands,” British Foreign Minister Chris Bryant told Sky News this week. But the Argentine Constitution mandates Argentina’s right to govern the area a few hundred miles of its coast. In mid-February, Buenos Aires announced that ships traveling between Argentina and the UK-governed area would need permits to sail, an action that could raise the price tag for foreign firms hoping to participate in exploration in the area. While drilling took place in the basin back in 1998, at that time exploration ended because of the low cost of oil, reports a BBC Q&A. With prices now above $75 a barrel and an unknown quantity of reserves, the area has drawn keen interest from oil firms, leading officials on the islands to criticize the new Argentine shipping decree. “The Falkland Islands Government has every right to develop a hydrocarbons industry within our waters,” said the Falkland Island’s Legislative Assembly in a statement. “It is no surprise to anyone that Argentina is behaving in this way but it is nonetheless disappointing when they do.”

Even as the sovereignty dispute reheats, exploration in Argentina’s territory is on the horizon. Repsol, working with Argentine affiliate YPF, announced February 25 that exploration will begin roughly 200 miles from Ocean garden, but “well within Argentine waters.”

Learn more:

• Map of the region showing oil fields and territorial claims.
• President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s Rio Group remarks condemning British drilling.
• Links to UN resolutions related to territorial claims in the region.
• 2007 UN resolution expressing regret of a lack of solution to the dispute.
• September 1995 joint UK-Argentine resolution on oil exploration.
• Argentine Constitution, including issue of sovereignty.
• Falkland Islands Government website.