UN chief Ban Ki-moon has called on Argentina and the UK to avoid an “escalation” in tensions over the disputed Falkland Islands.

His appeal came as Argentina’s foreign minister made an official complaint to the UN about the UK’s “militarisation” in the South Atlantic.

The minister said the UK had increased its naval power “four fold” by recently sending a destroyer to the region.

The two countries went to war in 1982 over the British overseas territory