Argentina on Thursday sharply criticized the approval by Britain of a new constitution for the disputed Falkland Islands, saying it had lodged a formal complaint with London.

`It constitutes a flagrant violation of the mandate accorded us by the United Nations,` Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Taina said at a press conference, adding that Buenos Aires had formally filed a complaint to London.

`The Argentine government will denounce this violation of Argentine sovereignty and international law before the international community,` Taino added, saying Britain was trying to perpetuate `an anachronistic colonial situation.`

The new constitution, announced Thursday after approval by Britain`s Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday, enters into force on January 1, replacing a version agreed in 1985.

In a statement issued in Britain, London`s junior foreign minister Gillian Merron said the measure would boost local democracy while keeping intact London`s authority to protect British interests.

`What it does not do is change the UK government`s overall commitment to the Islands as an Overseas Territory,` Merron said.

`Nor does it change the right to self-determination, fundamental to our relationship with all of our Overseas Territories,` she added.

The South Atlantic territory, known in Argentina as the Malvinas, was the object of a brief military conflict with Britain, when Argentine forces invaded the islands on April 2, 1982, prompting then-British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher to deploy naval forces to retake the Falklands.

The war, which was never formally declared by either government, was the result of a protracted diplomatic confrontation regarding the sovereignty of the islands.

The initial invasion was considered by Argentina as a move to reclaim its own territory while Britain viewed it as an invasion by a foreign power of one of its overseas territories.

After a 74-day conflict, in which 649 Argentines and 255 Britons died, Buenos Aires surrendered on June 14. But Argentina still lays claim to the islands.

`The world has moved on since the previous Falkland Islands’ constitution came into operation in 1985, and the Falklands have developed considerably both economically and socially,` said the British minister.

An Argentine constitutional scholar in Buenos Aires, Daniel Sabsay, told AFP the new constitution was merely `more of the same.`

`It`s a new affirmation of the way Great Britain brazenly ignores the sovereignty Argentina has, which the country has claimed in international forums,` he said.