- MADRID (UPI) -- Spanish forces
Wednesday stormed a tiny Mediterranean island and evicted a handful of
Moroccan soldiers camped on it, causing Morocco to demand that Spain pull
out immediately from what it called an indivisible part of Moroccan territory.
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- Spanish land, air and sea forces carried out the operation
on what the Spanish call Perejil and the Arabs Leila island. There were
no casualties.
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- Madrid said the Moroccan soldiers were evicted because
the islet, usually inhabited only by goats and lying a mere 175 yards off
the Moroccan coast, falls under Spanish sovereignty.
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- Stressing that, Spain said it was open to dialogue with
Morocco and willing to improve bilateral relations, Foreign Minister Ana
de Palacio told the Spanish Parliament the operation was aimed at restoring
the status quo after the Moroccan landing last Thursday. The arrangement,
she said, had been that the island could be used by both parties. The Spanish
military presence would end when the situation was back to normal, de Palacio
said.
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- Other Spanish diplomatic sources told United Press International
that Spain could not accept the Moroccans planting their flag on the island,
as the squad did. The islet has been internationally recognized as Spanish
for centuries, observers said.
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- Spanish Defense Minister Federico Trillo-Figueroa said
the military operation was necessary after diplomatic channels failed to
settle the standoff over the island. "Morocco started the crisis by
violating international law and betting on force. Spain acted in legal
self-defense," Trillo-Figueroa said.
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- Spanish soldiers detained six Moroccan troops before
handing them over at 10 a.m. to Morocco at the Spanish enclave of Ceuta,
which is near the disputed island. The operation, Spanish officials said,
was coordinated with the U.N. Security Council and NATO.
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- The episode began when Morocco landed a squad of 12 troops
and rejected Madrid's demands to withdraw them. The troops were sent to
the islet, Rabat said, because it was being used as a base for drug trafficking,
smuggling and illegal emigration to Europe.
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- In Rabat, the Foreign Ministry said Morocco "strongly
condemns the attack which could not be justified at a time negotiations
between Morocco and Spain are underway and both parties pledged to resolve
the crisis through diplomatic channels."
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- In Spain, the public appeared taken by surprise by the
action that involved frigates, helicopter gun ships and F-18 war planes,
backed by three submarines. The government of Prime Minister Jose Maria
Aznar had declared on Tuesday that it would seek a diplomatic solution
to the standoff over the island.
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- The incident has further strained relations between Spain
and Morocco that dispute ownership of a number of islands and continuing
Spanish rule in Ceuta and another enclave, Mellila, also on Morocco's Mediterranean
coast. Other disputes involve fishing rights in common waters and whether
the Western Sahara should be independent or part of Morocco.
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- The Moroccan parliament went into an extraordinary session
to discuss the Spanish action while the government canceled its weekly
meeting, well-informed sources told United Press International. A committee
of government members and senior military officials was to be set up to
look into the affair.
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- De Palacio contacted Secretary of State Colin Powell,
French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin, British Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw and German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer immediately after
the Spanish forces landed on the island, Spanish sources said. Similar
contacts were planned with the Arab League and the Organization of the
Islamic Conference to explain Madrid's position.
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- Reports circulated in the Spanish capital that the government
decided last Saturday to take action. But a source close to the Spanish
Embassy in Rabat said the decision to evict the Moroccans was taken only
a few hours before Spain's ambassador, Fernando Arias Algado, was summoned
on Tuesday to Madrid for consultations.
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- Withdrawal of the ambassador was considered bound to
further complicate relations between the two countries as happened when
the Moroccan ambassador was summoned home from Madrid last October. That
move was in protest at Spain's involvement in organizing a referendum on
the future of the Western Sahara where Spanish forces and those of the
independence-seeking Polisario confront each other.
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- As news of Madrid's action spread, Moroccans gathered
in protest outside the Spanish Embassy in Rabat Wednesday afternoon but
were dispersed by police without incident.
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- Idriss Issawi in Rabat contributed to this report. Copyright
© 2002 United Press International
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