Argentina rejects British military drills on disputed islands

Argentina on Friday strongly protested Britain's plan to carry out more military exercises on the disputed Malvinas Islands, called the Falklands by the British. The Argentine Foreign Ministry said in a statement it had respectively summoned British and the European Union's ambassadors to Argentina, Shan Morgan and Alfonso Diez Torres, to present "formal protests." "The Argentinean government categorically rejects Britain's performance of military exercises with missile launching from the Malvinas Islands," said the statement. The British military announced a joint military exercise on Oct. 8-19. The planned drills, following those performed in July, were condemned by Argentina as "a flagrant contradiction to the call made by the international community to peacefully resolve the disagreement on the Malvinas issue," the statement said.Regional organizations, such as the Union of South American Nations, the Southern Common Market, Ibero-American Summit and the Summit of South American and Arab Countries (ASPA), have long denounced the growing militarization of the Malvinas Islands. At Tuesday's ASPA summit in Lima, Peru, Britain was again urged to refrain from conducting military exercises in the disputed zone. Argentina and Britain fought a 74-day war in 1982 over the disputed islands. Despite its military defeat, Buenos Aires has not given up its claim to the islands just off its south Atlantic coast.