The imminent arrival of a British oil rig in waters around the Falkland Islands heightened tensions between Britain and Argentina yesterday after Buenos Aires said that it would take measures to prevent the rig “illegally” drilling in the area. While it was unclear how Argentina might enforce the shipping blockade that it declared on Tuesday, its Foreign Ministry said that it intended to prevent operation of the rig around the Falklands, known locally as Las Malvinas. Asked by local media about the arrival of the Ocean Guardian, which crew waiting in the Falklands say has been shadowed by Argentine jets, Victorio Taccetti, the Deputy Foreign Minister, said: “If it’s going to Las Malvinas, it will have to request authorisation.”
Mr Taccetti said that Argentina would take unspecified measures to stop oil exploration off the Falklands but said he was not considering a repeat of the 1982 conflict with Britain. The rig was on the verge of moving from international waters and into territory claimed by Britain and Argentina around the Falklands last night. It is due to move to its drilling location on Friday. The British Government responded by reiterating that Argentina had no jurisdiction in the area. “This does not affect Falkland Islands territorial waters, which are controlled by the island authorities,” a spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office said.
That view was shared by Desire Petroleum, the British company that intends to use the rig, which said that the situation had been foreseen for some time but would not affect the Ocean Guardian’s arrival “in any way”. Even without direct Argentine naval or airforce interference in Falklands waters, any controls which block shipping from using Argentine ports could render oil exploration uneconomic. Forcing ships on to longer routes would make supplying oil operations far more costly and complicated.
The sudden expansion of the dispute over territory followed the decree this week by President Kirchner requiring ships that travel between the Argentine mainland and the Falklands, or crossing waters claimed by Argentina, to seek permission from Buenos Aires. The action drew anger from British politicians. The secretary of the all-party parliamentary group on the Falklands, Andrew Rosindell, demanded that the Argentine Ambassador be called in. “I don’t think we should appease Buenos Aires — we found out what happens last time,” Mr Rosindell said. The group’s chairman, Sir Nicholas Winterton, dismissed the decree as sabre rattling, describing it as a “pathetic and useless” ploy for internal political purposes.
But he nevertheless decried Argentina’s “hostile behaviour”, saying that he would seek a meeting with senior Foreign Office officials when Parliament returns from recess next week. While the Falklands dispute is regarded in Britain as long settled, in Argentina, where schoolbooks show the islands as part of the national territory and every border crossing proclaims “Las Malvinas are Argentina’s”, the issue still burns in the national consciousness. President Kirchner has fanned long-smouldering resentment by making Argentina’s claim to the islands a central plank of her presidency, insisting that the country’s right to them “will never be surrendered” and accusing Britain of violating international law.
With presidential elections next year and the Government’s popularity plunging amid economic woes, President Kirchner, who once styled herself “Evita with a clenched fist”, is rallying nationalist sensibilities around the cause in order to shore up popular support, unite a fractured ruling alliance and distract opponents. With Gordon Brown also facing elections amid poor poll ratings, the parallels with the 1982 conflict between the ailing governments of Margaret Thatcher and Leopoldo Galtieri have not been entirely lost on Argentine commentators. The leading daily newspaper, Clarín published an editorial yesterday entitled “A conflict again escalating to the rhythm of two weakened governments”.
Nevertheless, the strategy has been politically successful. Responding to the shipping decree, Ricardo Alfonsín, of the opposition Radical Civic Union and vice-president of the lower house of Congress, declared that all Argentina was “committed to this true national cause”. Fabiana Ríos, the opposition governor of the province of Tierra del Fuego, into which the Falklands were incorporated under Argentine law last year, also backed the Kirchner Government, calling for unity “without distinction for political flags” to defend Argentina’s territory from “foreign usurpation”.
While the Argentine Government has expressed its hopes to resolve the matter peacefully, the authorities in the Falklands have warned that Buenos Aires would be risking an international incident if it tried to prevent ships from supplying the islands. “These are our waters,” said Emma Edwards, of the Falklands Legislative Assembly. “Should Argentina try to upset that, they would cause an international upset, which I would hope they won’t be silly enough to do.”
Author: Hannah Strange
