Falkland Islands
The Falkland Islands has a modern telecommunications network providing fixed line telephone and ADSL and dial-up internet services in Stanley.
Telephony is provided to outlying settlements using microwave radio.
A GSM mobile network was installed in 2005 which provided coverage of Stanley, Mount Pleasant and surrounding areas.
Transport
The Falkland Islands has two airports with paved runways. RAF Mount Pleasant, thirty miles west of Stanley, acts as the main international airport, with flights operated by the Royal Air Force to RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire, England via a refuelling stop at RAF Ascension Island. RAF flights are on TriStars although it is common for charter aircraft to be used if the TriStars are required for operational flights. At present (December 2007) the RAF air link is operated by Omni Air International, using DC-10s. Weekly flights are also available to/from Santiago, Chile, operated by LAN Airlines.
Port Stanley Airport is a smaller airport outside the city, and is used for internal flights. Most settlements have grass air strips which are served by Islander aircraft of the Falkland Islands Government Air Service (FIGAS). The internal flight schedule is decided a day in advance according to passenger needs and an announcement made on the radio detailing arrival and departure times the night before. The British International (BRINTEL) company also operate two Sikorsky S61N helicopters for passenger flights between the islands. The British Antarctic Survey operates a transcontinental air link between the Falkland Islands and the Rothera base airfield, servicing also other British bases in the British Antarctic Territory using a de Havilland Canada Dash 7.
The road network has been improved in recent years. However, not too many paved roads exist outside Stanley and the RAF base.
Landmines and ordnance
Approximately twenty five thousand land mines remaining from the 1982 war are securely and clearly fenced off. Free maps are available from the EOD (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) office in Stanley. Care should still be taken as some beaches were mined, and there have been concerns the tides could have moved some mines. The same applies where mine fields are close to rivers. Care should be taken in case mines have been washed out of the marked area by flooding. There is also ordnance left over from the war, although finds of this type are becoming rarer with the passage of time.[citation needed]
In February 2005, the charity Landmine Action proposed a Kyoto-style credit scheme, which would see a commitment by the British government to clear an equivalent area of mined land to that currently existing in the Falklands in more seriously mine-affected countries by March 2009. This proposal was supported by Falkland Islanders, for whom landmines do not pose a serious threat in everyday life, but the British government is yet to declare its support or opposition to the idea.
Military
The island has a number of royal marines stationed on it at most times, but also has its own defence force known as the Falkland Islands Defence Force. This is one Company in size. It is completely funded by the Falklands government and uses vehicles such as; Quad bikes, Inflatable boats and Land Rovers to traverse the islands terrain. The Falkland Islands Defence Force uses the Steyr AUG as its main assault rifle.
See also
External links
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- Falkland Islands at the Open Directory Project
- Falkland Islands travel guide from Wikitravel
- Falkland Islands Government official site
- The Falkland Islands Tourist Board
- Falkland Islands Tourism
- Falkland Islands Development Corporation official site
- Falkland Islands News Network official site
- Falkland Islands Information Portal
- Thoughts on the Late Transactions Respecting Falkland's Islands by Samuel Johnson 1771
References
- L.L. Ivanov et al, The Future of the Falkland Islands and Its People, Double T Publishers, Sofia, 2003, 96 pp. (Complete text) ISBN 954-91503-1-3
- Carlos Escudé and Andrés Cisneros, eds., Historia de las Relaciones Exteriores Argentinas, Work developed and published under the auspices of the Argentine Council for International Relations (CARI), GEL/Nuevohacer (Buenos Aires), 2000.
(Complete text in Spanish) ISBN 950-694-546-2
- ^ Falkland Islands Government (2007-08-30). "Falkland Islands Government appoints new Chief Executive". Press release. Retrieved on 2007-10-29.
- ^ WordReference, English-Spanish Dictionary. Falklands: the Falklands, las (islas) Malvinas.
- ^ a b The Islands: Location. Falkland Islands Government web site (2007). Retrieved on 2007-04-08.
- ^ Argentine official claim — Origin of the sovereignty dispute (Spanish and English)
- ^ de acuerdo al Derecho Positivo de la Argentina son Ciudadanos de la Nación Argentina por el solo hecho de nacer en su territorio, siguiendo el principio de Ius soli
- ^ Country Profile: Falkland Islands, Sovereignty of the Islands. Countries & Regions. Foreign and Commonwealth Office (2007-07-27). Retrieved on 2008-04-04.
- ^ AGREEMENT OF 14th JULY 1999. Falklands.info. Retrieved on 2007-07-23.
- ^ PSYOP of the Falkland Islands War. psywar.org. Retrieved on 2007-07-23.
- ^ A brief history of the Falkland Islands Part 2 - Fort St. Louis and Port Egmont., Accessed 2007-09-08
- ^ [1] A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FALKLAND ISLANDS: Part 2 - Fort St. Louis and Port Egmont
- ^ [2] FALKLAND ISLANDS TIMELINE: A chronology of events in the history of the Falkland Islands
- ^ Destéfani, Laurio H. (1982). The Malvinas, the South Georgias and the South Sandwich Islands, the conflict with Britain.
- ^ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Apcbg/Darwin-1834 Extracts from the Diary of Charles Darwin
- ^ Darwin's Beagle Diary (1831-1836) p.304. The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online. Retrieved on 2007-07-23.
- ^ Ocupación británica: Port Stanley (Puerto Argentino) (Spanish). Retrieved on 2007-07-23.
- ^ Ods Home Page
- ^ Commemorative Stamps of first flights
- ^ Argentine GovernmentPDF (185 KiB)
- ^ Guide to the conflict. Fight for the Falklands — 20 years on. BBC News. Retrieved on 2007-03-18. “The Foreign Secretary, Lord Carrington, and two junior ministers had resigned by the end of the week [following the Argentinian invasion]. They took the blame for Britain's poor preparations and plans to decommission HMS Endurance, the Navy's only Antarctic patrol vessel. It was a move which may have lead the Junta to believe the UK had little interest in keeping the Falklands.”
- ^ "Secret Falklands fleet revealed", BBC News, bbc.co.uk, 2005-06-01. Retrieved on 2007-03-18. "Lord Owen, who was foreign secretary in 1977, said that if Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government had taken similar action to that of five years earlier, the war would not have happened."
- ^ Casciani, Dominic. "1976 Falklands invasion warning", BBC News, bbc.co.uk, 2006-12-29. "The Franks Report into the eventual war noted that as tension mounted during 1977, the government covertly sent a small naval force to the islands — but did not repeat the move when relations worsened again in 1981-2. This has led some critics to blame prime minister Margaret Thatcher for the war, saying the decision to plan the withdrawal of the only naval vessel in the area sent the wrong signal to the military junta in Buenos Aires."
- ^ HistoryCentral. United Nations Resolution 502, Adopted by the Security Council at its 2350th meeting held on 3 April 1982.
- ^ [3] AGREEMENT OF 14th JULY 1999
- ^ Falkland Islands Government Overview.
- ^ Bowcott, Owen. "The new British empire? UK plans to annex south Atlantic", The Guardian, 2007-09-22. Retrieved on 2007-09-23.
- ^ a b Kelland, Kate. "Britain to claim a million square km of Antarctica", Reuters, 2007-10-18. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
- ^ a b Dodds, Prof Klaus. "Icy imperialism or reinforcement of the Antarctic treaty?", The Guardian, 2007-10-19. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
- ^ [4] Table of Contents to the UN Law of the Sea Convention
- ^ Boyle, Prof Alan. "Icy imperialism or reinforcement of the Antarctic treaty?", The Guardian, 2007-10-19.
- ^ Boycott, Owen. "Argentina ready to challenge Britain's Antarctic claims", The Guardian, 2007-10-19. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
- ^ http://www.falklands-meat.com/statement.htm
- ^ Arie, Sophie. "Argentina snubs UK over oil deal as anniversary nears", The Daily Telegraph, 2007-04-03. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
- ^ Mortished, Carl. "BHP Billiton strikes $100m Falklands drilling deal", The Times, 2007-10-03. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
- ^ Webber, Jude. "Argentina protests at Falklands oil stake", The Financial Times, 2007-10-03. Retrieved on 2007-10-20.
- ^ Vincent, Patrick (March 1983). The Geographical Journal, Vol. 149, No. 1, pp 16-17.
- ^ Falkland Islands
- ^ Falkland Islands Government
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