Letter: Falklands claims

Sir: I disagree with Alastair Forsyth (Letters, 18 March) that the International Court would probably find in favour of the Argentine claim to the Falkland Islands. On all the normal grounds for claiming sovereignty, Britain has the stronger claim.

The crucial point in modern international law is that, since 1833, Britain has enjoyed effective, continuous and peaceful possession, occupation and administration of the Falkland Islands - peaceful, that is, except for Galtieri's folly in 1982.

As for the primacy of territorial integrity mentioned by in Ambassador Pfirter's letter, can he seriously claim that a group of islands separated from the mainland by over 200 miles of open Atlantic Ocean is an "integral" part of Argentina?

Surely the only sensible, humane solution to this sovereignty issue as we approach the new millennium is to let the people most involved - the Falkland Islanders - decide for themselves.

Sir REX HUNT

Chairman, the Falkland Islands Association

Sunningdale, Berkshire