Argentines vow to get Falkland Islands back

By Hilary Burke

USHUAIA, Argentina (Reuters) - Argentina will fight on to win sovereignty over the British-controlled Falkland Islands, the government said on Monday, 25 years after a disastrous war for control of the islands.

Argentina's ill-fated Falklands campaign is widely seen as a mistake by the discredited military dictatorship ruling at the time.

But the centre-left government of President Nestor Kirchner has stepped up Argentina's sovereignty claims over the islands, known as Las Malvinas in Spanish, despite Britain's stance that it will only enter talks if the 2,900 islanders want it to.

"The Malvinas are Argentine, they always were, they always will be," Argentine Vice President Daniel Scioli said at an event marking the start of the war, drawing applause from the crowd of several thousand people.

"Once again, we urge the United Kingdom to heed international calls and resume negotiations in the appropriate manner, through the United Nations," Scioli said in Ushuaia, the world's southernmost city, lying more than 1,850 miles (3,000 km) south of Buenos Aires.

Last week, the Argentine government announced the end of an agreement with London to explore for oil near the Falklands, citing "unilateral" British efforts to drill. Britain called that a "backward step."

Diplomatic scuffles have also arisen in recent years over the issue of fishing licenses in the waters around the South Atlantic archipelago and flights to mainland South America.

In Venezuela on Monday, the British and German embassies were evacuated from the building that housed them after a hoax bomb threat was made to the British mission, authorities said. A building security official said the telephone threat was made by a man speaking with an Argentine accent.