BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Monday offered to help Argentina and Britain resolve a festering dispute over a vast swath of the southern Atlantic Ocean where Britain has begun drilling for oil.
Clinton told reporters, “We want them talking, and we want them trying to resolve the outstanding issues.”
She said the two countries should agree themselves over the sovereignty of the British-administered Falkland Islands, where the two nations fought a brief war in 1982.
“We are not interested in, and have no real role in, determining what they decide between the two of them,” Clinton said. But she told reporters en route to the Argentine capital, “What we want to do is facilitate them talking to each other.”
Speaking earlier Monday in Uruguay, Clinton had said the U.S. is willing to be a go-between. The islands are claimed by Argentina, which calls them Las Malvinas.
Argentina was a last- minute addition to the itinerary that includes Uruguay, quake-devastated Chile, Brazil, Costa Rica and Guatemala.
The Associated Press
