Gloom grows as Haig ends fruitless talks

Press, 20 April 1982, Page 8

Gloom grows as Haig ends fruitless talks

NZPA-Reuter Buenos Aires The American Secretary of State; (Mr Alexander Haig) met Argentina’s top leaders for 12 , hours yesterday, but failed to produce a. breakthrough to avert a war in the South. Atlantic between Argentina . and Britain over the Falkland -Islands. Mr Haig left Government House shortly after 5 p.m. last evening after meetings with Argentina’s President (Lieutenant-General Leopoldo Galtieri) and the Foreign Minister (Dr Nicanor Costa Mendez). “There is nothing new to report. The negotiations continue,” said the presidential press,secretary, Rodolfo Baltierrez, after Mr Haig left for his city hotel. The talks are marked by growing pessimism over the lack of progress. Dr Costa Mendez said that the. 'only positive note was “the fact that the negotiations continue.”

“What is not so positive is that there has. been no defin-ite-progress. We still believe that negotiation is better than war and we're putting all our effort behind the talks.”

Britain has insisted that Argentina must pull out its troops from the islands before any formal negotiations can begin over sovereignty. But President Galtieri’s

; spokesman remained ada- ’ mant that “sovereignty is not i at stake because it is Argentine.” Argentinian newspapers have presented a generally gloomy picture and said the negotiations . appeared headed for deadlock. A high Argentine Foreign Ministry official said his Government would invoke the • 1947 Rio Agreement, which calls for Western hemisphere nations to help each other in the event of outside aggression, if war with Britain seemed immin- ■ . ent. - ; The United States is a party to the agreement, but Mr Haig said that any move ■ by Argentina to invoke the pact would cause complica; ' tions, adding: “Our longstanding obligations to Great Britain ... are well known and seriously taken.” Argentina- has said little about its military preparations since Mr Haig returned to Buenos Aires. . It said last week its warships had left their South Atlantic ports but did not specify their destination. A Navy communique yesterday said that the fleet was continuing its mission on schedule and that morale among its men at sea was high, but gave no details of the fleet’s location. Britain has imposed a 200-

mile war zone around the Falklands and said any Argentinian warship spotted there risked being sunk on sight. In London the Prime Minister (Mrs Margaret Thatcher) shows no sign of tempering her pledge to forcibly evict the colony's Argentinian occupiers if diplomacy fails. British officials refused to reveal whether Mr Haig had been in contact with Mrs Thatcher over the week-end to brief her on his mediation efforts in Buenos Aires. Parliament resumes from its Easter recess today and Ministers are expected to be closely questioned on the Governmment’s likely reaction to a breakdown in Mr Haig’s attempts to find a diplomatic solution. Mrs Thatcher appears likely to receive continuing support from the Opposition Labour Party for her tough stand. The Labour Foreign Affairs spokesman, Stanley Clinton Davis, said yesterday that the British naval force had not been sent to "enter into a game” with Argentina. If diplomacy failed, a point would come when Britain might have to say: “Yes, there may weirhave to be war.” In Vancouver, the Canadian Foreign Minister said

that Canada would be willing to consider joining any international peace-keeping force in the Falkland Islands but had not been asked to do so. Mr Mark MacGuigan was replying to questions on unconfirmed reports that Mr Haig had proposed to Argentina that a six-nation peacekeeping force should administer the disputed islands while their sovereignty was negotiated over five years. Reuter reports that the plan proposed:— 0 Britain and Argentina should reserve their positions on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands for an interim period: © This interim period should last up to five years while negotiations on sovereignty are implemented; © A group of nations should administer the islands after an Argentinian withdrawal and during the interim period. The Royal naval task force heading for the islands should turn back; 0 The administering nations should comprise Britain, Argentina, the United States and six other countries — Canada, one Asian, two European, and two South American nations; and,

® The interim period should end with a vote by the Falklanders on the status of the islands.