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Keep off our tiny frozen island, Denmark tells Canada Mon Jul 25,12:43 PM ET
COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Denmark protested against an unannounced visit last week by the defense minister of Canada to a small and uninhabitable island in the Arctic claimed by both countries.
Defense Minister Bill Graham stopped on Hans Island, north of Greenland, on Wednesday while on a whirlwind tour of Canada's Arctic military posts, to survey the barren patch of land that sits on the boundary between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Denmark's Greenland.
The dispute over the island, which is less than 100 metres (yards) wide, dates back to 1973 when the border was drawn between Canada and Greenland, which is part of Denmark.
Canada's ambassador to Denmark, Fredericka Gregory, was summoned to the Danish foreign ministry on Monday for talks.
"We said that we deplored the visit which was not announced to Denmark in advance, and we recalled that Hans Island has been part of Greenland since its discovery in 1852 during an expedition" conducted by Denmark and Greenland, the foreign ministry's chief legal counsel, Peter Taksoee-Jensen, told AFP.
The snow-covered site is uninhabitable, but the onset of global warming is expected to bring ship traffic to the region soon and open it up to mining, fishing or drilling for oil and gas.
Danes and Canadians have visited it often to lay claim to it.
etc etc
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050725/wl_canada_afp/canadadenmarkpolitics_050725164323
COPENHAGEN (AFP) - Denmark protested against an unannounced visit last week by the defense minister of Canada to a small and uninhabitable island in the Arctic claimed by both countries.
Defense Minister Bill Graham stopped on Hans Island, north of Greenland, on Wednesday while on a whirlwind tour of Canada's Arctic military posts, to survey the barren patch of land that sits on the boundary between Canada's Ellesmere Island and Denmark's Greenland.
The dispute over the island, which is less than 100 metres (yards) wide, dates back to 1973 when the border was drawn between Canada and Greenland, which is part of Denmark.
Canada's ambassador to Denmark, Fredericka Gregory, was summoned to the Danish foreign ministry on Monday for talks.
"We said that we deplored the visit which was not announced to Denmark in advance, and we recalled that Hans Island has been part of Greenland since its discovery in 1852 during an expedition" conducted by Denmark and Greenland, the foreign ministry's chief legal counsel, Peter Taksoee-Jensen, told AFP.
The snow-covered site is uninhabitable, but the onset of global warming is expected to bring ship traffic to the region soon and open it up to mining, fishing or drilling for oil and gas.
Danes and Canadians have visited it often to lay claim to it.
etc etc
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20050725/wl_canada_afp/canadadenmarkpolitics_050725164323
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