BUENOS AIRES: A new history book describing how Britain illegally “colonised” the Falkland Islands is to be distributed to every secondary school pupil in Argentina. The book accuses British forces of arriving secretly on the islands in the 18th century and taking it by force from the Spanish. Since then the British have refused offers to discuss the islands’ sovereignty with Argentina, the book claims.

“After the expulsion of Argentinian officials and those living on the islands, the English government, in 1834, assigned a navy official to remain on the islands and in 1841 it took the decision to ‘colonise’ the Malvinas [Falklands], naming a ‘governor’,” pupils will learn.

The publication of Argentina’s side of events comes as a four-day official visit by three members of a UK cross-parliamentary committee begins. They are to meet their Argentinian counterparts to discuss the islands. Britain has consistently argued that sovereignty of the Falklands, which are classified as a self-governing overseas territory, is for the 3,000 islanders to determine.

According to the Argentinian version of events, the Falklands became part of Argentina after it declared independence from Spain in 1810. The new Argentinian government “considered [the Falklands] an integral part of its territory, inherited from Spain by succession,” the book says.

The British version of events reads differently. It maintains that an expeditionary force led by the Royal Navy reached West Falkland in 1765 and, on finding it unoccupied, took formal possession of the Falklands. In 1766 it established a settlement on the islands at Port Egmont. “This was withdrawn in 1774, but British sovereignty was never relinquished or abandoned,” a statement from the British embassy in Buenos Aires reads.

In an address to the UN General Assembly last week the Argentinian president, Néstor Kirchner, reiterated calls for talks with Britain. “We cannot but protest that the British government continues to make the resolutions of this assembly a case of omission,” he said, in reference to a draft resolution by the UN’s special committee on decolonisation which suggests a negotiated settlement.—Dawn/ The Guardian News Service