The Falkland Islands are back in the news again.
On March 10 and 11 the residents of the islands voted 99.8 per cent to remain under British rule.
Argentina, which calls the islands Las Malvinas, does not recognize the referendum results. The South American country points out that Britain expelled all the Argentinian residents of the islands when it took control of the Falklands in 1833.
The Falklands or Malvinas are located in the South Atlantic Ocean about 500 km off the coast of Argentina. They are almost 13,000 km from Britain.
Population is about 3,000, nearly all of them of British descent.
Britain and Argentina fought a short but bloody war in 1982 over the islands. Two months of fighting resulted in the deaths of 255 British and 649 Argentinian servicemen, plus three civilian islanders.
Britain’s victory revitalized the popularity of Margaret Thatcher. Until the war began she had been facing almost certain defeat at the polls.
Argentina’s defeat discredited the military junta that had ordered the invasion of the islands and led to the return of democracy to that country.
Since the war, little has changed.
British policy, which at one point had considered the gradual transition of the islands to Argentinian rule, now gives every appearance of wanting to hold onto them forever.
Islanders who are seriously ill are flown over 2,000 km to hospital in Santiago, Chile, rather than the much shorter distance to Argentina.
In 2005 the Argentinians backed out of joint management of the fisheries around the Falklands, fearing that talking with the island’s government would indicate acceptance of British sovereignty.
The result has been overfishing by hundreds of foreign boats in the area.
One thing that has changed recently is exploration for oil and gas.
On March 23, Falklands Oil and Gas Limited (FOGL) announced that it plans to spend $160 million over the next two years in offshore exploration.
Most of the deposits appear to be in the ocean to the east of the Falklands.
Oil or no oil, the islands are not worth fighting over again – and there is an obvious compromise solution.
Although there are several hundred islets in the archipelago, the Falklands consist largely of two main islands: East Falkland and West Falkland. Most of the people live on East Falkland, which is where the capital, Port Stanley, is located. Only about 200 live on West Falkland.
Why couldn’t Britain cede West Falkland (and the adjacent islets) to Argentina. It would be a face-saving solution for both sides. Britain would retain ownership of the potential oil and gas deposits (although possibly not all), but Argentina would have a base close enough nearby that it could expect to reap many of the benefits.
Cooperation in a long list of other endeavours, such as airline flights, trade by sea, and communication could be restored, to the benefit of all concerned.
Working together is always more productive than war.
