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Chile's President Michelle Bachelet and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton smile in Santiago - Source: Reuters -
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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said the United States stood
ready to help Argentina and Britain resolve new tensions over the
disputed Falkland Islands, which sparked a war between the two
countries in 1982.
"It is our position that this is a matter to be resolved between
the United Kingdom and Argentina. If we can be of any help in
facilitating such an effort, we stand ready to do so," Clinton said
in Montevideo, where she attended the inauguration of Uruguayan
President Jose Mujica, before traveling to Buenos Aires.
Argentina has objected to a British company's oil exploration off
the Falklands, known in Spanish as Las Malvinas, but Britain has
rejected the complaint.
Clinton's offer of help came on the first full day of a Latin
America tour that will take her to quake-hit Chile and regional
heavyweight Brazil along with Costa Rica and Guatemala.
Clinton, speaking to reporters later on her plane bound for
Argentina, said she did not see the United States in a mediating
role, but rather as simply encouraging dialogue.
"We're not interested in and have no real role in determining what
they decide between the two of them. But we want them talking and
we want them trying to resolve the outstanding issues between
them," she said.
"We recognize that there are contentious matters that have to be
resolved and we hope that they will do so."
At a news conference in Buenos Aires, Argentine President Cristina
Fernandez said she would welcome mediation from the United States
as a country friendly to both states.
She said all that her country was asking was for talks.
"I don't think that's too much," Fernandez said.
Clinton repeated that the United States just wanted to get the two
countries talking: "We want very much to encourage both countries
to sit down. We cannot make either one do so."
Drilling opposed
Argentina, which has claimed the South Atlantic islands since
Britain established its rule in the 19th century, invaded them in
1982.
After a two-month war, it was forced to withdraw, but still
claims the archipelago and says oil exploration by Britain's Desire
Petroleum is a breach of sovereignty.
Argentina formally objected to the drilling and said it would
require all ships from the Falklands to obtain permits to dock in
Argentina.
The Rio Group of Latin American leaders, meeting last month in
Mexico, issued a statement supporting Argentina's demands to halt
drilling around the Falklands, and Fernandez has said Latin
American nations back Argentina in the dispute.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said the matter
should be revisited by the United Nations.
A spokesman for British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said last week
he did not expect any direct contact between Brown and Fernandez on
the issue and that Britain had given no thought to any military
response.
The Falklands are not an onshore oil producer and have no proven
onshore reserves, but oil companies are betting that offshore
fields hold billions of recoverable barrels of oil.
Desire Petroleum said it broke ground at a well on its offshore
"Liz" prospect, which could contain up to 400 million barrels,
although the exploration may recover nothing.
The United States attempted to be neutral in the 1982 military
clash, with then-Secretary of State Alexander Haig embarking on
shuttle diplomacy that sought a negotiated settlement.
Argentina's ill-fated Falklands campaign is widely seen as a
mistake by the discredited military dictatorship ruling at the
time.
But Argentina's government has said it will continue to seek sovereignty over the islands.
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