Residents of the Malvinas Islands are slated to vote in a referendum on whether the islands should remain under British rule or become part of Argentina.

The disputed islands’ government said on Saturday that the referendum would be held on March 10 and 11.

The government said in a statement that the result of the vote will demonstrate “in a clear, democratic and incontestable way” how the people of the islands wish to live their lives.

This is while as on January 3, Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner published an open letter to the UK Prime Minister David Cameron in several British newspapers, calling on London to hand over the Malvinas Islands.

Tensions escalated between London and Buenos Aires in 2012 when both countries marked the 30th anniversary of the end of the UK and Argentina war over the islands.

The two countries fought a 74-day-long war in 1982 over the islands, which ended with the British side claiming victory over the Argentineans.

Located about 300 miles off Argentina’s coast and home to about 3,000 inhabitants, the islands have been declared part of the British Overseas Territories since Britain established its colonial rule on the territories in 1833.

Argentina, however, has repeatedly dismissed the British territorial claim.

MR/MA