Assembly urges resumed negotiations on Falklands-Malvinas issue.

Assembly Urges Resumed Negotiations on Falklands--Malvinas Issue

ON 16 November, the Assembly reiterated its request to Argentina and the United Kingdom "to resume negotiations in order to find as soon as possible a peaceful solution to the sovereignty dispute relating to the question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas)'.

Resolution 38/12, sponsored by 20 Latin American States, was adopted by a vote of 89 in favour to 9 against (Belize, Dominica, Gambia, Malawi, New Zealand, Oman, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, United Kingdom), with 54 abstentions. In it, the Assembly also asked the Secretary-General to continue his renewed mission of good offices to assist the parties in complying with its request and to report next year on progress made.

In the text's preamble, the Assembly said the "maintenance of colonial situations is incompatible with the United Nations ideal of universal peace'. It reaffirmed the need for the parties to take "due account of the interests of the population' of the islands, and reaffirmed Charter principles on non-use of force or threat of force in international relations and the peaceful settlement of international disputes.

The text also took into account "the existence of a de facto cessation of hostilities in the South Atlantic and the expressed intention of the parties not to renew them.'

The resolution's main provisions are nearly identical to those of a 1 September 1983 decision of the Special Committee on decolonization. The Assembly reviewed the Committee's report (document A/38/23, Part VII), a Secretariat working paper (document A/AC.109/752) containing detailed descriptions of the land, people, economic conditions and social and educational conditions of the Territory and a summary of United Nations consideration of the Falklands Islands (Malvinas) question, and the Secretary-General's report (document A/38/532) on the question.

The Secretary-General said he had held extensive exchanges with the Governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom, including meetings with the President of Argentina and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, to facilitate a solution to the Falklands (Malvinas) problem.

"While it is clear negotiations cannot begin unless both parties agree', stated the Secretary-General, "it is my belief that a resumption of dialogue coupled with the adoption of confidence-building measures can contribute to a normalization of the situation in the South Atlantic and open the way towards a lasting...