COPENHAGEN, Oct 12 — Greenland’s foreign minister said today that US claims to the territory had ruptured “trust” with the superpower that needed rebuilding.

Foreign Minister Mute Egede said it would be a “difficult exercise” to re-establish full confidence;

He was speaking as the autonomous Danish territory’s parliament was due to debate a security accord reached with the United States giving Washington the right to build two new military bases in Greenland.

“Something has broken,” Egede told Danish broadcaster DR of the months of tensions after US President Donald Trump argued the United States needed control of Greenland and would not rule out the use of force to take it.

“There has been a serious breach of trust. When a friend acts this way — with a lack of respect — trust has to be rebuilt,” Egede said.

“I fully understand that many people in our population have lost the trust they previously placed in a good friend,” said Egede.

Restoring trust “will be a difficult undertaking”, he added.

The United States, Denmark and Greenland signed an accord last month at the United Nations General Assembly that Trump claimed would end the dispute.

He said the United States would build two “major” bases on the autonomous Arctic territory of 57,000 people.

“A certain momentum emerged after the summer holidays and the end of summer, which made it possible to reach an agreement,” Egede said.

“We worked in a spirit of mutual respect and did things the right way.”

The Greenlandic parliament was scheduled to start its debate on the accord on Monday but the Danish parliament has not yet put it on the its agenda. — AFP