'It's a national cause': Furious Javier Milei blasts 'useless' UN for 'looking the other way' on Falklands dispute
The right-wing leader called for an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham as tensions with Britain continue to surge.
Argentinian President Javier Milei has accused the UN of looking “the other way” amid his country’s dispute with the UK over the Falkland Islands in a furious rant at the international organisation's headquaters.
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The right-wing leader used his speech the General Assembly to rally against the UN, urging it to help Argentina to seize the Falklands and end its inaction .
Describing his country's claim over the archipelago as a “national cause”, he called for an urgent meeting with Prime Minister Andy Burnham as tensions with Britain continue to surge.
Milei then slammed the “useless” UN for failing to help its country with its territorial claim, arguing its “only purpose is to sustain a cast of faintly arrogant parasites masquerading as well-intentioned bureaucrats".
He said the dispute was yet another example of the UN's failure to back justifiable claims of territorial integrity.
Read more: ‘I’ll probably be able to settle’ Falklands dispute, says Donald Trump
“For us the Falklands are a national cause. They are also a test of the gulf that can exist between the words of international institutions and the reality in which they purport to act,' he said.
Milei also said that the organisation which is supposed to promote human rights has instead allowed "violence, chaos and international terrorism to flourish".
Argentina earlier this month began sanctions proceedings against more than 60 companies and people linked to an offshore oil drilling project in a move that sparked backlash from British officials.
Uma Kumaran, British Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Overseas Territories, blasted Argentina's actions as "unacceptable" on Friday, saying that "the Falkland Islands are British and they have the right to develop their natural resources as they see fit."
Argentina’s sovereignty claim to the islands in the South Atlantic that it calls the Malvinas remains central to its national identity.
The country invaded the archipelago in 1982 and fought a 10-week war that ended with Argentina's surrender to Britain and is still commemorated in Buenos Aires in street murals for the fallen soldiers.
In a televised address this month, Milei said the drilling project violates a 1976 UN General Assembly resolution urging both countries to resolve the sovereignty dispute through dialogue and avoid unilateral decisions.
His speech came days after US President Donald Trump waded into the row once again, suggesting Washington could reconsider its traditionally neutral position and solve the Falklands dispute.