UK’s David Cameron visits Falklands in 30-year first, sparking ‘provocation’ claim
- Britain’s top diplomat says he hopes the Falkland Islands will wish to stay in the UK family forever
- Visit came amid renewed calls by Argentina for negotiations over the contested territory
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron visited the Falkland Islands on Monday, prompting claims of “provocation” from an Argentine regional official on the first such trip in three decades to the far-flung UK territory claimed by the South American nation.
Cameron said he was visiting the South Atlantic archipelago at the centre of a 1982 war between the two nations to make clear the territory was “a valued part of the British family”.
Britain’s Press Association reported Cameron as saying Britain would “help protect and defend” the islands for as long as they want to be “part of the UK family”.
“And I hope that’s for a very, very long time, possibly forever,” he added.
Gustavo Melella, governor of Argentina’s Tierra del Fuego, Antarctica and Southern Atlantic Islands province, said on X that Cameron’s presence “constitutes a new British provocation that seeks to undermine our legitimate sovereign rights over our territories and to sustain colonialism in the 21st century”.
The Falklands, known as Islas Malvinas in Argentina, are about 480km (298 miles) from mainland Argentina, which claims to have inherited them from Spain when it gained independence.
