The dispute sparked with the unilateral British referendum among the residents of the Malvinas on Mar. 10 and 11 on whether to remain as Britain's overseas territory.

Generally people think that a territorial dispute occurs between two neighboring countries.

The Malvinas dispute, however, is between two countries in the different continents so that it draws an international concern.

The islands consist of 200 islands just off the southern coast of Argentina.

Argentina had acquired the ownership of the islands since it got independent from the Spanish colonial rule in 1816. Since then Argentina had exercised the legal right to control the islands.

British troops seized the islands about 14,000 km away from the mainland in 1833 by force of arms and killed its natives at random and drove them away by force. Britain had since prevented them from returning and registering as legal residents of the islands while pursuing a national assimilation policy by immigrating British people into the islands.

Then what is the real purpose of Britain to grab the barren islands inhabited by less than 3,000 people at any cost?

As an answer to this question, analysts say that the aim of Britain is to consolidate its rule over the Malvinas and waters off them, protect its interests in territory, navigation, trade routes, air space and increase its military presence in the Antarctic rich in natural resources in a bid to bolster its position in the region.

Britain has insisted on the referendum only, strongly opposed to talks with Argentina over the Malvinas dispute.

Britain unilaterally went ahead with the referendum after its proposal to change the wording of UN General Assembly resolution 2065 to include the principle of people's right to self-determination was flatly rejected by the United Nations.

Argentina is strongly reacting against the UK's referendum, terming it meaningless act that carries no international legitimacy.

The Argentine government claimed that the referendum is simply invalid because most of the islands' population is not indigenous but "transplanted British citizens," and therefore cannot be asked to vote on whether they want independence from colonial rule. It declared that it would not stop the struggle to retrieve the islands against the desperate moves of the UK.

Latin American countries are extending full support and solidarity to the stance of Argentina.

At a summit of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States recently held in Santiago of Chile a joint declaration was adopted to unequivocally support the Argentine dominium over the Malvinas Islands.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry in its statement rejected the UK's referendum as a violation of relevant UN resolutions and international law, adding self-determination cannot be claimed in a disputed and colonized territory with a population forcibly implanted representing UK interests.

In disregard of that fair public opinion, the UK persists in its stance, employing such method where a force prevails, right perishes, being backed by the U.S.

The prime minister of the UK said it would always be ready to defend citizens in the remote Falkland Islands.

The U.S. administration said that its position regarding the Falkland Islands, known as the Malvinas to the Argentines, remains unchanged, but acknowledged that the Falklands residents have clearly expressed their preference in a recent referendum.

Argentina is now maintaining its firm stand to retrieve the islands at any cost.

But the UK is not to easily give up its ambition and the U.S. is fanning up the dispute by backing the former in view of its strategic interests so that the islands dispute will become more and more acute, predict sources.