UK describes incident of Ambassador Castro with Hague as “disappointing”

The United Kingdom ratified on its refusal to start any negotiation over the sovereignty of the Malvinas Islands, and considered “disappointing” the episode occurred on Monday between Argentine ambassador to London Alicia Castro and British Foreign Secretary William Hague.

The Foreign Office again ratified Islanders will decide their future, not the Argentines.

A Foreign Office spokesman told international news agency ANSA that Castro’s intervention of last Monday during the launch of Britain's annual world review of human rights in London was “disappointing”, and reiterated that Great Britain “will not negotiate the Islands’ sovereignty until the Islanders decide to do so.”

Likewise, the spokesman indicated that “there’s nothing new to be said. Islanders have the right of self determination; they have the right to decide their own future and not the Argentines.”

On Monday, Argentina's new ambassador to London put UK’s Foreign Secretary William Hague in an awkward situation over the Malvinas Islands after asking him at a public meeting whether he was ready to “give peace a chance” by opening talks on the Islands' future.

The Argentine diplomat tackled the Foreign Secretary on the subject as he launched Britain's annual world review of human rights at a ceremony attended by diplomats, journalists and rights activists in the opulent surroundings of Lancaster House in London.

“Seeing that the United Nations and the international community and a large group of Nobel Prize winners urge both countries to (start) negotiations in order to find a pacific and permanent resolution, my question is: Are you ready for dialogue? Are we going to give peace a chance?” she asked as Hague took questions from the audience.

A flustered Hague, sensing that Castro was about to make a long statement, interrupted her several times, pressing her to ask a question before cutting her short with: “Thank you. That's enough. Stop.”

Answering Castro, Hague said: “Self-determination is a basic political right of the people of the Islands ... You can count on us always, permanently, to stand by that right.”