London -
David Cameron has rebuffed a renewed demand by Argentina to hand back the Falklands, insisting the islands' residents had his “100 percent backing” in their wish to remain British.
He hit back on Thursday after Argentina's President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, denounced British “colonialism” and said the United Kingdom should start talks on the Falklands' sovereignty. Cameron retorted that she should listen to the result of a referendum to be held on the islands in 2013.
Cameron said: “The future of the Falkland Islands should be determined by the Falkland Islanders themselves, the people who live there.
“Whenever they have been asked their opinion, they say they want to maintain their current status with the United Kingdom.”
Kirchner's intervention comes with relations between London and Buenos Aires at a low.
She made several calls in 2012 - the 30th anniversary of the two countries going to war over the Falklands - for Britain to surrender the islands and clashed face to face with Cameron over the issue at the G20 summit in Mexico last June. - The Independent