"It is absurd to claim control (of the Falklands) from 14,000 kilometers away when the territory is on our continental shelf," she said here in a 20-minute speech during a remembrance ceremony in honor of the 649 Argentine victims of the conflict.

With tensions running higher over the disputed archipelago thought to have significant oil wealth beneath surrounding seas, Kirchner said Buenos Aires, which claims the islands held by Britain since 1833, would respect the interests of the some 3,000 local residents.

"We are not asking for anything more than a dialogue between the two countries to discuss the issue of sovereignty, respecting the interests of the islanders as stated in UN resolutions," she told the crowd.

"It is an injustice that in the 21st century, a total of 16 colonial enclaves still exist, including 10 ruled by Britain," the Argentine president said.

Earlier, some 5,000 people attended a remembrance vigil in honor of the war dead in Ushuaia, the world's southernmost city.

Kirchner made a fresh appeal to London to accept dialogue to resolve the bitter sovereignty dispute over what Argentina calls the Malvinas and considers part of its national territory.

On April 2 1982, the then ruling junta in Argentina stunned the world when it landed troops in the capital of the Falklands, Port Stanley, on April 2, 1982.

The war ended in defeat for Argentina, costing the lives of 649 Argentine troops and 255 British servicemen, after Margaret Thatcher sent in a naval task force to reclaim the territory.

Once the British troops had made the long voyage, they were locked in an often bloody battle, hilltop by hilltop, until Britain wrested back control of the windswept islands it has ruled since 1833.

In Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron said stressed that his country remains "staunchly committed to upholding the right of the Falkland Islanders, and of the Falkland Islanders alone, to determine their own future".

"Thirty years ago today the people of the Falkland Islands suffered an act of aggression that sought to rob them of their freedom and their way of life," he said.

Britons were "rightly proud of the role Britain played in righting a profound wrong", he added, paying tribute to the "prosperous and secure" society built there since the war.

"Not only was the freedom of the islanders attacked. But Cameron apparently was not aware that the freedom of all Argentines was robbed, there were thousands of missing detainees," Kirchner countered.

The Argentine president also said that last Friday she sent a letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross urging it "to intercede with Britain for the identification of remains of dozens of British and Argentine soldiers" who have yet to be identified.

"It doesn't get any easier," Allen told AFP after lighting the Falklands flame in front of other relatives and veterans at the National Memorial Arboretum, in a low-key ceremony marking the Argentine invasion of the South Atlantic islands on April 2, 1982.

Allen's husband Iain Boldy was killed in an attack on the frigate HMS Argonaut on May 21 that year, one of 255 British and 649 Argentine troops who died in the 74-day war that followed the invasion.

"We'd only been married two weeks when he set off for the Falklands," she said, adding that while she has got better at managing her loss, "there will be times when I am overwhelmed".

Argentinian President Cristina Kirchner was expected to mark the anniversary of the start of the conflict, in which Buenos Aires was defeated, with a speech in the city of Ushuaia and a ceremony unveiling a new monument to her country's dead.

But in Britain the commemorations were muted, with an intimate service of remembrance at the arboretum in Staffordshire, west central England, where the country remembers its troops killed since World War II.

The congregation of less than 100 also prayed for reconciliation between Britain and Argentina before Allen lit the candle in a 10-minute service.

A larger event is planned for May 20, when about 600 veterans will attend the dedication of a new monument at the arboretum, consisting of a curved wall complete with rock from the rugged Falkland islands.

Commander Peter Mosse, who captained the frigate HMS Ambuscade during the conflict, was among those attending Monday's ceremony, and he strongly defended Britain's actions.

"Given that an aggressive act was taken and the law was broken, you can't let that happen," he told AFP.

"We were thankfully able to come back all in one piece and we're able to share the pride of those who actually had to give their lives."

One of Britain's heroes in the war was Lieutenant-Colonel H. Jones, the commanding officer of 2 Battalion the Parachute Regiment, who was killed in a charge on Argentine positions during the May 28, 1982, Battle of Goose Green.

He was awarded the Victoria Cross, Britain's highest military decoration for valour in the face of the enemy, but his widow, Sarah Jones, said he would not have considered himself any more heroic than any of his men.

She told AFP her main emotion on Monday was "pride -- what our task force achieved was extraordinary".

"Anniversaries do make it a little bit more poignant but when you remember someone, it's still a daily remembrance," she said.

Jones said Argentina has "very little claim, if any" to the Falklands, dismissing renewed claims on the territory from Buenos Aires as an attempt to distract domestic attention from the country's financial woes.

But she added: "It's sad to remember how many on their side died.

"A lot of them were young conscripts who hadn't really a clue what they were going to, poor things. I think they found it a very bitter experience, so of course we must remember them as well."