The presence of Kosovar military in the Malvinas archipelago otherwise known by the British as the Falkland Islands has been described by the Argentines Governments Secretary for the Malvinas, Guillermo Carmona as not only a “provocation” that adds an additional “danger” to an already tense situation, but it also contravenes the U.N. demilitarization resolutions. Kosovo a province of Serbia was forcibly removed from Serbia and it now houses the biggest U.S. military base in Europe. It has also replaced Afghanistan as the world’s primary producer of heroin.
A Doubtful “Peace” Mission
“It is an unprecedented fact the entry of third State actors or in this case of a non-State entity such as Kosovo is an innovation that appears at the same time as a provocation,” said Carmona in an interview for Europa Press during an official visit. “The British Government has not provided any argument, and they should explain it“, said Carmona in relation to the United Kingdom’s invitation of seven Kosovar soldiers to Malvinas to participate in what the U.K. has described as a “peace mission”. Providing Kosovo with a sense of legitimacy on the world stage while at the same time giving a two finger insult to Argentina seems to be the only possible explanation for the U.K action.
Transferring Tension
Carmona warned that in the case of Kosovo, this decision is transferring “tension” from Europe to a United Nations defined zone of peace and cooperation in the South Atlantic. “This military presence is a disruptive factor“, that is seen by the surrounding countries as “threatening” he added. “The truth is that adding third parties from conflictive areas of the world implies adding a degree of complexity and danger to the situation, which we think is important to highlight,” said Carmona. Argentina raised this concern last week at the United Nations.
Argentine State Interests
Throughout the Malvinas 40 years Agenda, they have managed to defend the interests of the Argentine State on the archipelago at the international level, as established in the Constitution, while at the same time showing the “reluctance” of the U.K. to negotiate showing its “flagrant” non-compliance with the United Nations resolutions that prohibit unilateral actions. “We have intensified our diplomatic action especially in the United Nations, within the scope of the Decolonization Committee (…) We have tried to make it very clear that after 190 years of British usurpation, which have been completed now in January, and already more than 40 years of the Malvinas war, this issue deserves a dialogue and a negotiation on the question of sovereignty”, he said. Older Irish readers will recall that Charles Haughey, Irelands Taoiseach at the time, backed Argentina in its war with the British.
Chagos Archipelago a Solution Model
Carmona cited the recent U.K. decision to negotiate a possible decolonization of the Chagos archipelago with Mauritius and how it can benefit as a model for the Argentine cause in relation to Malvinas. “The case of Chagos is perhaps the most important turn in foreign policy that the United Kingdom has had since Brexit,” said Carmona while clarifying that the case of this archipelago in the Indian Ocean differs from that of the Malvinas, there are “points of contact” as it is a territory where there are allegations of colonial presence. “In the meantime, we have to persist in our objective and keep the Malvinas issue on the international agenda”, persisted Carmona, while emphasising the “great deployment” of Argentina in the last year exposing this issue as a case of “colonialism pending solution”.