The Argentine Government announced last January 6 that it had become aware of the military exercises that the United Kingdom was holding, once again, in the Malvinas Islands with the participation of soldiers from the Grenadiers Guards and the Scots Guards together with forces of the Royal Navy of the Royal Air Force that are part of the military deployment of the United Kingdom's illegal occupation in the Malvinas Islands, among others.
The Argentine Republic, through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Secretariat of Malvinas, Antarctica and South Atlantic, rejected in a statement issued on that date, in the strongest terms, the holding of these military maneuvers in illegitimately occupied Argentine territory, which constitute an unjustified show of force and a deliberate disregard for the calls of the numerous resolutions of the United Nations and other international organizations, which urge both Argentina and the United Kingdom to resume negotiations, in order to find a peaceful and definitive solution to the sovereignty dispute that involves both countries in the Question of the Malvinas Islands.
Our country regretted, in that official statement, that in times when humanity has to join forces and make use of all available resources to fight COVID-19 and while such a serious and delicate situation is being experienced, meaningless efforts are dedicated to military matters. Moreover, the British military presence in the islands is categorically opposed to the permanent will of the Argentine Republic to resolve the dispute by peaceful means, in compliance with international law and the pertinent resolutions of the United Nations.
In particular, the persistence of the United Kingdom in conducting military exercises in the South Atlantic specifically contravenes resolution 31/49 of the United Nations General Assembly, which urges both parties (Argentina and the United Kingdom) to refrain from adopting unilateral decisions that entail the introduction of modifications in the situation while the Islands are going through the negotiation process recommended by the same Assembly.
The military presence also contradicts resolution 41/11 of the General Assembly (Zone of Peace and Cooperation in the South Atlantic) which, among other provisions, exhorts the states of all other regions, especially the militarily important states, to scrupulously respect the South Atlantic region as a zone of peace and cooperation, in particular through the reduction and eventual elimination of their military presence in that region.
The Argentine Government reaffirmed once again its sovereignty over the Malvinas, South Georgias and South Sandwich Islands and the surrounding maritime areas that are an integral part of the Argentine Republic's national territory, which, being illegitimately occupied by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, are subject to a sovereignty dispute recognized by the United Nations through resolution 2065 (XX) and subsequent resolutions of the General Assembly as well as other international organizations and forums.
Furthermore, in accordance with the above mentioned resolutions, the Argentine Government reiterates that this is a sovereignty dispute that must be solved bilaterally between the two countries, and reaffirms its willingness to resume negotiations.
