Spain Offers to
Leave Island, If Morocco Promises to Stay Off
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Spanish
Foreign Minister, left, speaks as Spanish Defense Minister looks
on, during a Parliamentary session to inform the house of the
events regarding the dispute.
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MADRID,
July 18 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - Spanish troops will leave
the islet, Leila, off the Moroccan coast on the condition that Rabat
promises to never again send its troops there, Spain’s Foreign
Minister Ana Palacio said Thursday, July 18.
Under
growing international pressure to peacefully resolve their row, and
with Rabat accusing Madrid of making a “declaration of war”,
Palacio insisted that Spain’s dawn commando raid to retake the
island was merely aimed at restoring the status quo, reported Agence
France-Presse (AFP).
“Spain
would have liked to have concluded a deal and not undertake this
operation,” she said on national television. “What Spain wants is
to re-establish the status quo.”
“There
should be a serious status quo, with guarantees, that is to say that
if Spain abandons the islet, the Moroccans should never return,” the
foreign minister said, adding such a pledge from King Mohammed VI
would be sufficient.
Morocco’s
Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa said Wednesday, July 17, that Madrid
had sent in its troops only minutes after a deal had been struck after
U.S. mediation, an assertion that Palacio denied, AFP said.
Benaissa
described Wednesday’s raid by Spain, in which a handful of Moroccan
troops were expelled, as “a reprehensible act which is equivalent to
a declaration of war.”
He
also reiterated assertions that the islet, known as Leila in Morocco
as Perejil in Spain and situated just over 100 meters from the North
African coast, was an “integral part” of Moroccan territory.
Moroccan
soldiers landed on the uninhabited outcrop, an unremarkable bathing
spot and normally home to just a few goats, last Thursday, to set up
an “observation post” as part of a campaign to prevent terrorism
and illegal immigration.
But
Spain insisted their presence there was a violation of Spanish
sovereignty, and promptly sent warships into the area and recalled its
ambassador to Rabat over the issue.
The
row is the latest in a string of disputes between Morocco and Spain,
Rabat’s second-largest trading partner.
In
the past year they have also clashed over illegal immigration, fishing
rights and the disputed territory of Western Sahara.
With
relations between Spain and Morocco hitting an all-time low, the
international community rallied to pull the two sides back from the
brink.
Deputy
U.S. Secretary of State Richard Armitage made numerous phone calls to
the Spanish and Moroccan foreign ministers overnight seeking to
mediate, while U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan also stepped in with
a mediation offer.
“We
are trying to help the parties, our friends on both sides, work this
out in a peaceful manner,” U.S. State Department spokesman Richard
Boucher said.
“Both
Spain and Morocco are longstanding friends of the United States.”
A
U.N. spokesman said Annan “regrets any unilateral action taken so
far and hopes that both parties will adhere to their original
undertaking to resolve the issue through peaceful means.”
But
Spain’s foreign minister asserted that the U.N.’s mediation offer
would not be immediately taken up, saying the crisis could be worked
out in direct talks.
The
status of the islet has been ambiguous since Madrid’s protectorate
over nearby parts of Morocco came to an end in 1956.
Madrid
maintains that for the past 40 years both sides have adhered to an
agreement not to occupy the 13.5-hectare (33-acre) isle, although
Rabat insists the question of ownership had never been settled.
NATO
and the 15-member E.U. have backed Spain, but the Arab League and the
Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) have sided with Morocco.
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