Argentina on Falklands diplomatic warpath

BUENOS AIRES, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- Argentina has embarked on a diplomatic offensive to drag Britain into international forums as part of its attempt to thwart oil prospecting in the Falkland Islands waters of the South Atlantic.

As widely predicted by analysts, Buenos Aires this week fired the first diplomatic salvos against Britain at the United Nations and the Rio Group, the Caribbean and Latin American group, as it convened its annual meeting in Mexico.

In London British media speculated the region might be heading for armed conflict. British warships were on standby in the area to protect commercial shipping to the Falkland Islands as U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Britain would take a robust stand against Argentine encroachment on the Falklands, a British overseas territory, The Telegraph newspaper reported.

The U.K. Ministry of Defense said existing British military "deterrence" in the Falklands was not being increased and U.K. force levels were being maintained, the newspaper's Web site said.

HMS York, a Type 42-destroyer, is on a "tight leash" patrolling around the islands in response to rising tensions over British firms' oil exploration activities near the Falklands. Argentina has demanded a halt to "illegal" oil drilling around the Falklands and this week imposed a permit system on ships passing from its ports to the Falklands archipelago, which includes 778 islands.

Argentina and Britain went to war after a military-dominated Argentine regime invaded the Falklands in 1982 in a bid to wrest control of the islands, called Malvinas in Spanish. The resulting 74-day war led to the deaths of 255 British and 649 Argentine troops and three civilian Falklanders. It was the most recent conflict fought single-handed by Britain and the only Argentine war since the 1880s.

Argentina said it would present its case against Britain at the Rio Group meeting, opening Monday, and would pursue a U.N. response Wednesday.

Argentine Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Taiana indicated he is determined to push the Falklands higher up on the Rio Group agenda, which is currently concerned with reconstruction in Haiti after the January earthquake.

Diplomats said Buenos Aires would seek a strong declaration in support of Argentina's position calling for sovereignty negotiations on the Falklands dispute with Britain, based on U.N. resolutions.

Later in the week, Taiana plans to meet with U.N. Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon to push for U.N. intercession on Argentina's behalf.

On Wednesday President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner signed a decree requiring all maritime traffic to and from the Falklands to obtain permits from the Argentine government, on the basis the disputed Islands are an integral part of Argentine territory.

British officials reiterated the government of the Falkland Islands, based in the capital Stanley, has the sovereign right to explore for hydrocarbons in its territorial waters. An oil rig leased by Desire Petroleum, a British oil and gas explorer, is scheduled to start drilling in the basin for hydrocarbons.