Argentina was celebrating a diplomatic coup today in its attempt to force Britain to accept talks on the future of the Falkland Islands, after an extraordinary two-hour meeting in Buenos Aires between Hillary Clinton and the country’s President Fernández de Kirchner.
Responding to a request from Mrs Kirchner for “friendly mediation” between Britain and Argentina, Mrs Clinton said she agreed that negotiations were a sensible way forward and offered “to encourage both countries to sit down”.
Her intervention defied Britain’s long-standing position that there should be no negotiations unless the islands’ 3,000 inhabitants asked for them.
It was hailed in Buenos Aires as a major diplomatic victory, but condemned in the Falklands. Britain insisted there was no need for mediation as long as the islanders wanted to remain British. “We don’t think that’s necessary,” a Downing Street spokesman said.
More: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle7047309.ece
Responding to a request from Mrs Kirchner for “friendly mediation” between Britain and Argentina, Mrs Clinton said she agreed that negotiations were a sensible way forward and offered “to encourage both countries to sit down”.
Her intervention defied Britain’s long-standing position that there should be no negotiations unless the islands’ 3,000 inhabitants asked for them.
It was hailed in Buenos Aires as a major diplomatic victory, but condemned in the Falklands. Britain insisted there was no need for mediation as long as the islanders wanted to remain British. “We don’t think that’s necessary,” a Downing Street spokesman said.
More: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle7047309.ece
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