Argentina to complain to UN Security Council over British warship

Feb 8, 2012, 3:08 GMT

Buenos Aires - Argentina plans to complain to the UN Security Council about British plans to send a destroyer to the southern Atlantic, President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner said.

'I have instructed our foreign minister to make a formal complaint to the United Nations Security Council and Assembly about this militarization of the South Atlantic,' she said late Tuesday.

The area includes the Falkland Islands, or Islas Malvinas in Spanish, which have been British territory since 1833 but are claimed by Argentina.

A two-month conflict in 1982 between the two countries over the islands, which lie around 450 kilometres off the Argentinian coast, left about 1,000 dead from both sides.

Britain said January 31 that it would deploy the HMS Dauntless, a latest-generation air defence destroyer, to the Falklands.

The move, to take place in the next two months, was a routine manoeuvre to relieve a frigate, authorities said.

Tensions have been rising ahead of the 30th anniversary of the failed invasion by Argentine forces in April.

Kirchner also spoke out against a posting by Britain's Prince William, the grandson of Queen Elizabeth and second in line to the throne, who arrived in the Falklands Saturday as part of his training as an Air Force search-and-rescue helicopter pilot.

The Argentinian president said she would have preferred William to travel to the islands 'in civilian clothes and not a military uniform.'

Recent oil discoveries in the islands have also contributed to the tensions. 'The great battles of the 21st century will be over the large natural resources of developing countries,' Kirchner said.

Read more about Great Britain

Read more about Falklands

Read more about UN