British Navy On Standby Over Falkland Oil Dispute, Gordon Brown Issues Explicit Warning To Argentina

Royal Navy warships on standby over Falklands oil dispute


[link to www.telegraph.co.uk]

Royal Navy warships were on standby on Thursday to protect commercial shipping to the Falkland Islands as Gordon Brown said Britain would take a robust stand against Argentine encroachment on the resource rich South Atlantic territory.

By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Published: 6:41PM GMT 18 Feb 2010

The MoD said the UK's existing "deterrence" in the Falklands was not being increased and UK force levels were being maintained Photo: EPA


HMS York, a type 42-destroyer, was on a "tight leash" patrolling the seas around the islands in response to rising tensions over British firms oil explorations activities near the Falklands. Argentina has demanded a halt to "illegal" oil drilling around the Falkands and on Wednesday imposed a permit system on ships passed from its ports to the island.

Gordon Brown, the prime minister, issued an explicit warning to the Argentinian government that the South Atlantic show of force – which also included a survey vessel backed up by a 1,000-strong military detachment on land – would respond to any disruption of the Falklands links to the outside world.


Britain and Argentina lodge rival claims to seabed around Falklands"We maintain the security of the Falklands and there are routine patrols continuing," Mr Brown said. "I think you will find that we have made all the preparations that are necessary to make sure the Falkland Islanders are properly protected."

A statement from the Ministry of Defence pointedly referred to the deterrent role that all British forces, including the Navy, were playing in the South Atlantic. "A deterrence force is maintained on the islands. That deterrence force comprises a wide range of land, air and maritime assets which collectively maintain our defence posture."

Navy commanders said the prospect of the Argentine disruption of shipping in the area was real.

"This is modern defence diplomacy in action," an MoD official said. "The warships are there to protect the UK interests in the South Atlantic. If the Argentines were interfere with the free movement of shipping on the high seas that would be illegal and we would make a decision to use our deterrence force.

"At the end of the day if the Argentines decide to up the ante and the Foreign Office agreed that our interests were being challenged we are there to stop that."

Argentinian officials have revived the country's claims to sovereignty over Falklands as it contests British claims on the potentially lucrative deep sea oilfields within the islands 200-mile economic zone.

Jorge Taiana, Argentina's foreign minister, scheduled a meeting with Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, next week to discuss British failure to comply with resolutions calling for a "discussion" of sovereignty.

"What they're doing is illegitimate," Mr Taiana said. "It's a violation of our sovereignty. We will do everything necessary to defend and preserve our rights."

British diplomats have accused the Argentine government of posturing in order to gain a negotiating toehold on the future revenues from an oil find.

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, Argentina's president, has made the recovery of Las Malvinas – as the Falklands are known – a nationalist theme of her presidency.

David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, said Buenos Aires claims would not stand scrutiny under international law.

"The stories in the news are because of some hydrocarbon, some oil exploration that is going on off the Falklands," Mr Miliband. "It's being done completely in accordance with international law. It's completely within the rights of the Falklanders to do so and of the companies to do so. The Argentines have protested, but we are absolutely confident that it's fully legal what we are doing."

Ben Wooley, a spokesman for Desire Petroleum, the London-based exploration company that is leading exploration efforts said its rig Ocean Guardian would arrive at the drilling site 60 miles north of West Falkland as early as today and that news on the first drilling results were expected early week.

Ocean Guardian has a full set of supplies for the six months of its mission but Argentina can be expected to disrupt any resupply efforts if the exploration is extended.

The Foreign Office has advised Desire Petroleum that protests from the Argentine government can be expected to grow if the test results are promising.

He said: "There is a suite of expected Argentinian responses and sabre-rattling that are anticipated and Desire Petroleum has put in place contingency plans so that nothing to do with the testing is affected."