Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations Secretary General has appealed for calm in the escalating dispute over the Falkland Islands, as Argentina took their claim of sovereignty to the General Assembly and Security Council.

In a statement issued on Friday afternoon, Ban Ki-moon expressed concern about the "increasingly strong exchanges between the governments of Argentina and the UK".

It added that he had: "Expressed the hope that the governments of Argentina and the United Kingdom will avoid an escalation of this dispute and resolve differences peacefully and through dialogue".

Argentina's foreign minister arrived in New York on Friday to officially protest about Britain's "militarisation" of the seas around the disputed islands.

It comes after Argentinian President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner hit out at the UK's decision to send the Duke of Cambridge and one of its most modern navy warships to the South Atlantic region.

In a speech to an audience including Falkland war veterans on Wednesday, she said the move posed a risk to "international security" before announcing the official complaint would be made.

Addressing politicians yesterday, Ms Kirchner said: "In a few hours our chancellor leaves for New York to make a presentation to the United Nations about the militarisation and the introduction of nuclear arms in the zone."

A statement from Argentina's foreign ministry added: "In accordance with the instructions received from the President of the Argentinian Republic, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the Chancellor (Foreign Minister) Hector Timerman will meet with Ambassador Kodjo Menan, president of the United Nations Security Council to present the Argentinian complaint against the militarisation that the United Kingdom is carrying out from the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic.

"Furthermore the Chancellor will personally inform the President of the General Assembly of the United Nations, Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser and the body's Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon of the violation by the United Kingdom of around 40 United Nations resolutions which call for dialogue between the said country and Argentina to peacefully resolve the conflict initiated in 1833 with the military invasion of the Falkland Islands."

Mr Timerman will also meet with the president of the UN Decolonisation Committee, the ministry said.

The complaint comes amid simmering tensions between London and Buenos Aires in the run-up to the 30th anniversary of the 1982 Falklands war, which saw Argentinian forces invade the archipelago in a row over its sovereignty.

In December, Prime Minister David Cameron accused the Buenos Aires administration of "colonialism" after the Mercosur grouping of countries, which includes Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay, announced that it would ban ships sailing under the Falkland Islands flag from docking at their ports.

Last week Prince William began a six-week posting in the Falklands region in his role as an RAF search and rescue pilot, while the Government has also revealed it is to send one of its newest destroyers, HMS Dauntless, to the South Atlantic.

The Type 45 destroyer is due to set sail for the region on her maiden mission in the coming months to replace frigate HMS Montrose.

Ms Kirchner said it was difficult to see how "the sending of an immense and modern destroyer accompanied by the Royal heir who we would have liked to see in civilian clothes and not in military uniform" was not a show of purposeful military strength by the UK.

It has also been reported that The Royal Navy is sending a nuclear submarine to the region to protect the islands from possible Argentinian military action. This has not been confirmed by the Ministry of Defence.

Britain has held the Falkland Islands, known as Las Malvinas in Argentina, since 1833.