食
RT Jackling Esq
DS 11
Ministry of Defence
Main Building
Whitehall
SECRET
Please enter on
8
Evacuahai file.
E1944 614.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
London SW1A 2AH
6 April 1981
HKG 064/1
- 7 APR 1981
ICER.
B
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FALKLAND ISLANDS:
MILITARY/NAVAL
CONTINGENCY PLANNING
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1. You may already have seen the records of the recent round of Anglo-Argentine talks on the Falklands dispute in New York. (In case not, I enclose a copy.) Two Falkland Island Councillors were present as members of the British delegation. As expected, no direct progress was made towards a solution, though the talks were held in a
cordial atmosphere. Both sides are now reporting back to their respective Governments. Ministers will eventually be considering how we should proceed.
2. Following the talks we find ourselves
find ourselves in something of a Limbo, for two main reasons. First, it is now for the Islanders to consider the issues, without any pressure from us, with a view to agreeing a basis on which further talks might be held. At the same time, there is now a new Argentine President and a completely new ministerial line-up in Buenos Aires. There will thus (we hope) be a period when the Argentines are too busy settling into the new arrangements to press Us for further talks.
3.
However, we are not deluding ourselves that this period is likely to last very long. The Falklands dispute is an issue on which all Argentine Governments have the same basic view and, moreover, it is a view shared actively by the Argentine press and public. Pressure will be brought to bear on US to make progress towards some sort of fresh sovereignty arrangements, and we shall not have the advantage of the good relationship built up with the outgoing MFA team to help us through any rough passages we encounter.
4. We are hopeful that the direct dialogue between the Argentines and the Island respresentatives which took place in New York (effectively for the first time) may have begun a process of reappraisal Coth in Argentina and in the Falklands which may eventually lead to a settlement. But we cannot be at all confident of this. It is perfectly possible that the
/ Islanders
SECRET