Argentina's president Cristina Fernandez has called for talks with Britain over the disputed Falkland Islands in an open letter to prime minister David Cameron.

In the letter, published in British newspapers, Ms Fernandez accused Britain of breaching United Nations resolutions, urging the two countries to negotiate a solution to the dispute.

Britain and Argentina fought a 10-week war in 1982 over the remote South Atlantic islands, known in Argentina as Las Malvinas, which are part of Britain's self-governing overseas territories.

Ms Fernandez said her open letter was timed to coincide with the 180th anniversary of the day Argentina was "forcibly stripped" of the islands in what she called a "blatant exercise of 19th-century colonialism".

"The question of the Malvinas Islands is also a cause embraced by Latin America and by a vast majority of peoples and governments around the world that reject colonialism," Ms Fernandez said.

Noting that the islands were located 14,000 kilometres from London, Ms Fernandez accused Britain of expelling Argentines from the islands and carrying out a "population implantation process".

But Britain continued to dispute that version of history, and said no civilian population was expelled from the Falklands on or after January 3, 1833.

Britain's Foreign Office rejected the Argentine president's call for negotiations, sticking to London's long-established stance that the approximately 3,000 people of the Falkland Islands had chosen to be British.

"There are three parties to this debate, not just two as Argentina likes to pretend," the Foreign Office said.

"The islanders can't just be written out of history.

"As such, there can be no negotiations on the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands unless and until such time as the islanders so wish."

The islanders are due to vote this year in a referendum on whether they want to stay part of Britain's self-governing overseas territories.

They are expected to vote overwhelmingly in favour of the status quo.

Reuters