Argentina Calls UK's Falklands Military Exercise an 'Act of Colonial Aggression'

Argentina is heaping scorn on the UK over the scheduled military exercise in the disputed Falkland Islands calling the drill a new "act of colonial aggression" by Britain.

The country's deputy foreign minister Eduardo Zuaín has summoned the British ambassador in Buenos Aires, John Freeman, over the exercise, which is to take place between 14 and 27 April.

Argentine foreign minister Héctor Timermanon said: "This action is part of a pattern of behaviour reported by the Lady President's Office on the second of April, pursuant to which the provocations and hostile acts towards Argentina by an extra-nuclear power are repeated."

Argentina also lays claim to the rocky archipelago, known as Las Malvinas in Spanish.

A spokesperson for the embassy of Argentina in London said in a statement: "This action [military exercise] falls within a pattern already denounced by President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner on 2 April, consisting of provocations and hostile acts towards Argentina from an extra-continental nuclear power."

"This action is a new example of UK's disregard for United Nations resolutions, which call on both parties to resume negotiations over sovereignty and refrain from introducing unilateral modifications in the situation as long as the dispute persists."

Argentina lost the islands in a bloody war with Britain in 1982, but tensions have resurfaced in recent years between the two countries.

Nearly 99.8% of the islanders voted in favour of remaining as a British overseas territory in the referendum in March 2013. The islands have a population of just under 3,000 people.