Argentina hits out at royal deployment 01.02.12
10Prince William is due to begin his 6 week tour of duty in the Falkland Islands. He will be co-pilot in the RAF's Search and Rescue Sea Kings, based at the Mount Pleasant Complex. There is plenty of publicity surrounding the visit, coming in the 30th anniversary year of the Falklands War. Argentina has once again condemned the deployment, describing Prince William as wearing the "uniform of a conqueror" The Chief of the Defence Staff General Sir David Richards has already dismissed suggestions that the UK is using Prince William's deployment to provoke Argentina. He said: "I can absolutely tell you it wasn't and isn't designed to be." General Richards has stressed William's deployment is routine for an RAF Sea King pilot, pointing out Prince Harry was sent to Afghanistan as a forward air controller in 2008. It has also emerged that UK foreign minister Jeremy Browne will be visiting the islands in June to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the war. Mr Browne yesterday told the Commons the Government had resisted Tory calls for the Falkland Islanders' right to self-determination to be written into a new UK law. He insisted legislation was unnecessary as he stressed the islanders' ability to decide their own future was "non-negotiable".