BUENOS AIRES: Argentina has said that it has lodged an “emphatic protest” against British plans to hold military exercises in the disputed Falkland Islands, renewing an old feud after a recent thaw.
British Ambassador Mark Kent was summoned to the offices of the Argentine Foreign Ministry and given a formal note of complaint demanding the exercises be called off, the ministry said in a statement.
It said Britain was planning “illegal military exercises in the area of the Malvinas,” the Argentine name for the islands, from October 19 to 28, including the launch of Rapier missiles.
“Argentina rejects the holding of these exercises on Argentine territory illegally occupied by the United Kingdom,” it said.
British officials have said the exercises are routine.
Britain and Argentina fought a brief but bloody war over the islands in 1982 after Argentine forces occupied them.
