![[Valid Atom 1.0]](valid-atom.png "Validate my Atom 1.0 feed")
BBC MUNDO RADIO
By Ian Drury
Last updated at 6:56 PM on 02nd March 2010
Back off: Gordon Brown has rejected Washington's offer to help in the Falkland Islands dispute saying it was 'not necessary'
Gordon Brown has rejected an unwelcome move by America to help resolve the dispute between Britain and Argentina over the Falkland Islands.
The Prime Minister curtly dismissed U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's offer to 'facilitate' diplomatic negotiations amid heightened tensions over the territory's sovereignty.
Downing Street issued the rebuff by insisting direct intervention by Washington was 'not necessary'.
Later, Foreign Secretary David Miliband told MPs that the Government had 'no doubt' about Britain's claim over the South Atlantic islands.
He also said British companies drilling for oil 60 miles north of the Falklands - a sore point in Buenos Aires - were 'wholly within their rights' under international law.
MPs also pointed out that the White House's refusal to back Britain over the Falklands was in stark contrast to Tony Blair standing shoulder-to-shoulder with the U.S. over the Iraq invasion in 2003.
The stand-off between the UK and Argentina has simmered since Desire Petroleum was given permission to explore for oil. It's drilling rig arrived off the islands' coast last month.
Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner retaliated by announcing new controls for shipping to the islands, which Buenos Aires calls Las Malvinas and accuses Britain of occupying illegally.
Tensions have simmered since Argentina invaded the Falklands in 1982. A UK taskforce seized them back after a three-month war which claimed the lives of 255 British servicemen.
Mr Brown waded into the row after Mrs Clinton met President de Kirchner in Buenos Aires and said the dispute should be resolved, and offered to mediate in talks.
His official spokesman said: 'We don't think that's necessary. We welcome her support in terms of ensuring that we continue to keep diplomatic channels open but there is no need for that [direct involvement].'
He said UK firms drilling for oil was 'right and entirely legitimate'.
Stepping in: Hillary Clinton meets with Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, right, in Buenos Aires. Clinton had pledged to help resolve the row between Britain and Argentina
Mr Miliband reiterated Downing Street's stance during Foreign Office Questions in the Commons today.
He told MPs: 'There can be no negotiations on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands unless and until such time as the Falkland Islanders so wish it and they have made clear they have no such wish.
'The best way of supporting legal and appropriate economic development around the Falkland Islands is to uphold the rule of international law.
'The companies are acting wholly within their rights and wholly within the legality of international law.'
Shadow Foreign Office minister David Lidington urged the Government to drum home to President Kirchner that the UK 'cannot compromise' on the issue.
Friends like these: The women share a laugh, including the interpreter, centre. Mrs de Kirchner had asked Mrs Clinton to help in the Falklands dispute
Tory MP Andrew Robathan condemned Mrs Clinton's offer to broker talks between the UK and Argentina.
He said: 'In 2003 we gave unequivocal support to the U.S. in Iraq and we are now fighting shoulder to shoulder and our soldiers are dying together in Afghanistan.
'Yet the U.S. government is rather equivocating on this particular subject.'
Officials have said that by failing to support the UK explicitly, U.S. President Barack Obama could be testing the loyalty of one of his staunchest allies.
But it was claimed last week that Washington's refusal to shift from a position of neutrality over the Falklands was 'payback' for the UK government's failure to stop the courts releasing secret CIA files relating to the torture of terror suspect Binyam Mohamed, a British citizen.
Britain has more than 1,000 troops garrisoned on the Falklands as well as four RAF bombers stationed there and four warships in the area to deter Argentina from taking military action.
