Other colonial Territories 961 Chapter IV Other colonial Territories With the dispute between Argentina and the United Argentina charged that United Kingdom aircraft Kingdom over the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) re- had overflown and harassed Argentine fishing maining unresolved, the General Assembly in vessels—on 11 and 15 August,(1) 1 October(2) and November 1986 again requested both parties to initiate 24 November(3)—outside the so-called protection negotiations and the Secretary-General to continue zone which the United Kingdom had unilaterally his good offices mission to assist them (resolution 41/40). set up at 150 nautical miles around the Malvinas. In addition to that question, the Special Com- The United Kingdom denied those charges—in let- mittee on the Situation with regard to the Implemen- ters dated 4 September,(4) 10 October(5) and 15 tation of the Declaration on the Granting of Inde- December(6)—saying that the vessels were found pendence to Colonial Countries and Peoples within the zone and that its aircraft approached the (Committee on colonial countries) continued to ex- ships to confirm their identity without harassing amine the situations in Western Sahara and East them in any way. Timor and decided to review them again in 1987. Conservation measures in the South Atlantic In October, the Assembly reaffirmed that Western fishing grounds were the subject of a series of let- Sahara was a decolonization matter and again re- ters. On 22 September,(7) the United Kingdom ex- quested Morocco and the Frente Popular para la pressed its concern over a report that Argentina had Liberación de Saguia el-Hamra y de Río de Oro concluded with the USSR a bilateral fisheries agree- to negotiate a cease-fire and a referendum for self- ment purportedly applicable to the waters around determination of the people of the Territory (41/16). the Falkland Islands, at a time when a technical In addition, the Assembly took action on the ques- study was under way by the Food and Agriculture tions of American Samoa (41/23), Guam (41/25) Organization of the United Nations (FAO) that could pave the way for a multilateral agreement on and the United States Virgin Islands (41/24), under 8 United States administration; and Anguilla (41/17), long-term conservation measures. On 29 October,( ) Bermuda (41/18), the British Virgin Islands (41/19), the United Kingdom said the bilateral fisheries the Cayman Islands (41/20), Montserrat (41/21) and agreements which Argentina had signed with the Turks and Caicos Islands (41/22), administered Bulgaria and the USSR were intended to preju- by the United Kingdom. dice matters in dispute between itself and Argen- The Assembly adopted decisions on the ques- tina, that it had informed the parties that those tions of Pitcairn (41/406), Gibraltar (41/407) and agreements were contrary to international law and St. Helena (41/408). that it had concluded that there was no longer a A visiting mission, dispatched to Tokelau in July, realistic prospect of achieving multilateral ar- reported that its people had expressed the desire rangements under FAO for the 1987 fishing season. to maintain their current association with New Therefore, in the interest of responsible conserva- Zealand, the administering Power. The Assembly tion and management, it issued a declaration, ef- approved the mission's report and urged New Zealand fective immediately, on the Falkland Islands Interim to intensify its political education programme to Conservation and Management Zone extending 200 improve the awareness of the Territory's people of nautical miles from the baselines from which the their right to self-determination (resolution 41/26). breadth of the territorial sea of the Falkland Islands Background papers on developments in most of was measured; legislative measures for the zone were the Territories were prepared for the Committee expected to be taken by the authorities in the Falkland on colonial countries by the United Nations Secretariat. Islands as an interim step pending internationally agreed arrangements for the south-west Atlantic fishery as a whole. On 30 October,(9) Argentina transmitted the text of a government press communiqué calling the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) United Kingdom's claim over the control of the fishing resources and jurisdiction over the contintental Communications. A number of letters were ad- shelf as juridically and politically inadmissible as dressed to the Secretary-General by Argentina, the it encroached on waters over which Argentina ex- United Kingdom and others on the Falkland Islands ercised rights of sovereignty and jurisdiction. On (Malvinas) situation in 1986. 3 November,(10) Argentina stated that the United 962 Trusteeship and decolonization Kingdom's declaration marked a step backwards November(16) Argentina transmitted a letter in the elimination of colonialism and was a viola- dated 4 November from the FAO Director-General, tion of General Assembly recommendations on the confirming that FAO, within its limits of com- Malvinas question; the pretext of concern for petence and mandate as a specialized technical marine resources conservation was a cover for its agency, was assessing the state of fishery resources unilateral move to improve its position in the sov- in the south-west Atlantic, as requested at the FAO ereignty controversy. Annexed to the letter was the Conference in 1985. text of a 31 October note to the United Kingdom, India transmitted on 15 May(17) the final transmitted through the Embassy of Brazil at documents of the Ministerial Meeting of the Co- Buenos Aires, formally rejecting Britain's claims ordinating Bureau of the Movement of Non- and reaffirming Argentine sovereignty over the Aligned Countries (New Delhi, 16-19 April), in Malvinas Islands, the South Georgia and the which the Ministers again supported Argentina's South Sandwich Islands, and the surrounding right to have its sovereignty over the Malvinas maritime waters, sea-bed and marine subsoil. In restored through negotiations and reaffirmed that a declaration of 17 November(11) Argentina ex- the massive United Kingdom military and naval pressed its willingness to start negotiations with presence in the area was a cause for concern to the United Kingdom—with the Secretary- the countries of the region. That position was General's assistance—on problems between the reiterated in a communique adopted by the two countries besides the sovereignty dispute, Plenary Meeting of the Non-Aligned Countries namely, trade, consular and diplomatic relations, (New York, 20 November) forwarded by Zim- transport and communications, and fishing babwe on 21 November. (18) resources. Action by the Committee on colonial coun- On 21 November(12) the United Kingdom, re- tries. The Committee on colonial countries(19) sponding to the 30 October and 3 November let- considered the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) ques- ters from Argentina, stated that its 29 October tion at two meetings, on 12 and 14 August, hear- declaration respected the rights that Argentina ing statements by Argentina and Committee might legitimately claim under international law; members as well as a representative of the that the declaration was aimed at fish-stock con- Legislative Council of the Falkland Islands and two servation, not at bolstering Britain's sovereignty other petitioners. The United Kingdom, the ad- over the Falkland Islands; that it was Argentina ministering Power concerned, did not participate; which had sought to use the fisheries issue to ad- it had informed the Committee in January that vance its sovereignty claim; and that the United it would no longer take part in the Committee's Kingdom rejected Argentina's claim to sovereignty work (see p. 967). over the Falkland Islands, the South Georgia and The Committee, on 14 August, reiterated that the South Sandwich Islands. It added that the In- the way to end the colonial situation in the terim Conservation and Management Zone, pro- Falkland Islands (Malvinas) was by a negotiated claimed by the Governor of the Falkland Islands settlement of the sovereignty dispute between on 29 October, did not extend beyond the protec- Argentina and the United Kingdom. Expressing tion zone it had set up as a defensive measure. regret that implementation of Assembly resolu- Peru, on 5 November(13) deplored the United tions on the question had not started, the Com- Kingdom's decision on the fishing zone, contend- mittee urged the parties to resume negotiations ing that the unilateral measure frustrated Argen- and reiterated its support for the renewed good of- tina's efforts to resolve its dispute with the United fices mission of the Secretary-General to assist Kingdom peacefully. Venezuela, on 6 November(14) them. transmitted a 30 October government statement Report of the Secretary-General. In accord- in which it declared that the latest United Kingdom ance with a 1985 General Assembly request(20) decision disrupted international efforts aimed at the Secretary-General submitted, in November settling the sovereignty dispute. 1986, a report on the question of the Falkland Argentina, on 13 November(15) transmitted the Islands (Malvinas)(21) in which he stated that he text of an 11 November resolution adopted by the had exchanged views on the question with Argen- Permanent Council of the Organization of tina and the United Kingdom, meeting with both American States (OAS), at Guatemala City, in heads of Government and, on a number of occa- which the Council expressed its concern over the sions, with their Foreign Ministers and Permanent new element of potential conflict introduced by the Representatives to the United Nations. Their posi- United Kingdom's declaration, asked both parties tions remained essentially unchanged, he said, to negotiate and to refrain from taking actions that with the United Kingdom remaining committed might affect the de facto situation, and asked OAS to improving bilateral relations with Argentina to ask the international community to redouble over practical matters, setting aside the sovereignty its efforts to gain a settlement.