LONDON (AP) – British Foreign Secretary David Cameron toured battlefields from the Falklands War on Monday in a visit aimed at underscoring that the Falkland Islands are “an important part of the British family.”
Cameron’s visit, the first by a British foreign secretary to visit the South Atlantic Islands in 30 years, comes as Argentina seeks renewed negotiations over the disputed territory.
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Prime Minister David Cameron said he wanted the islands to remain part of the British “family” forever.
“As long as the Falkland Islands want to be part of the British family, they are absolutely welcome to be part of that family and as far as I know we will support them, support them and absolutely “We’re going to help protect and protect them for as long as they want,” he said. “And I hope it lasts for a very long time, maybe forever.”
The politician toured the islands by helicopter, stopping at two battle sites from the 1982 Falklands War. He also visited a cemetery and paid his respects to the war dead.
Amid increasing calls from the Argentine side for talks about the future, Foreign Secretary David Cameron visits the San Carlos cemetery in the Falkland Islands in Stanley, British Falkland Islands. Monday, February 19, 2024, during a high-profile visit to prove that.
The islands, about 300 miles (480 kilometers) from South America and 8,000 miles (13,000 kilometers) from Britain, have long been a source of tension between Argentina and Britain.
Argentina claims the islands were illegally taken in 1833. Britain claimed that its territorial claims date back to 1765, and dispatched warships to the islands in 1833 to expel Argentine troops who were seeking to establish sovereignty over the territory.
Argentina invaded the island in 1982, sparking a two-month war that Britain won, killing 649 Argentine troops, 255 British soldiers, and three islanders.
In a referendum in 2013, islanders overwhelmingly voted to remain a British Overseas Territory.
Argentina’s recently elected President Javier Millay has called for the islands, known in Argentina as the Malvinas Islands, to be handed over to Buenos Aires.
Prime Minister Cameron said the UK’s relationship with the Argentine government “will never be at the expense of the wishes of the people of the Falkland Islands and, in our view, the people of the Falkland Islands will absolutely have priority”.
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The UK Foreign Office said the two countries “will agree to disagree and do so in a civil manner” on the issue.
The last British Foreign Secretary to visit the Falkland Islands was Douglas Hurd in 1994.
