July 15, 2002	Monday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 4, 1423

MADRID, July 14: The European Union threw its full weight behind member-state Spain in a territorial dispute with Morocco on Sunday, demanding the immediate withdrawal of Moroccan troops from a small island off the north African country’s coast.

The deserted strip of land facing the Strait of Gibraltar is not much bigger than a football pitch but has caused a major diplomatic crisis between Spain and Morocco whose relations are already under deep strain.

Denmark, holding the rotating EU presidency, said the EU was very concerned over the situation and expressed “its full solidarity with Spain and urges Morocco to immediately withdraw its forces” from the island.

But Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa retorted that the Spanish and EU response was out of proportion, and suggested instead there was room for cooperating to find a solution.

“We believe the situation can be contained by means of dialogue,” he told AFP by telephone.

Spain has vowed to pursue a claim to the island off of the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, bordering Morocco, and sent a fourth warship Sunday to reinforce its naval build-up in the disputed waters.

On Thursday, Rabat deployed around a dozen troops to the island — known as Perejil in Spain and Leila in Morocco.

Spain reacted the following day by sending three small patrol boats to the outcrop, and reinforced its military presence on islands it claims near Morocco.

Stressing that Morocco did not wish to dramatise matters, Benaissa said: “Morocco hasn’t invaded Spain with 10 soldiers landing on this little rock in Moroccan local waters 180 metres (yards) off its coast.”

He said Spain had never made any sovereignty claim to the island.

“It’s possible calmly to find a formula to cooperate with Spain on several outstanding problems including Leila Island,” the minister suggested.

Morocco’s decision unilaterally to set up a surveillance post on the island with the official intention of combating terrorism and clandestine emigration from Morocco to Spain has been perceived in Madrid as a violation of an accord between the two countries.

Other problems damaging Moroccan-Spanish ties include illegal immigration to Spain from North Africa, the non-renewal of an EU fishing accord with Morocco, the disputed territory of Western Sahara and oil prospecting off of Spain’s Canary Islands.

Spanish Foreign Minister Ana de Palacio told the newspaper El Mundo Sunday Spain’s naval deployment of ships was a reaction in “a language everyone can understand, such as the sending of patrol boats.”

Spain had done what it had to do, she said, while declining to say how long Madrid would give Morocco to withdraw its troops.

“In this regard, I cannot give a timetable,” she said.

Pedro Morenes, Spanish secretary of state in charge of security, said he believed a rapid solution would be found because “Morocco will think about this very quickly.”

Morenes said he felt Rabat had thus far failed to respond to Spain’s demand for troop withdrawal because it was “reflecting profoundly on its actions.”

De Palacio explained the show of military force over the three-day build-up: “We are saying ‘We are there.’ Nothing serious. We are calm, we are a democratic state and a member of the European Union.”

ARAB LEAGUE SUPPORTS MOROCCO: The Arab League supports Morocco’s claim to the tiny Mediterranean island, the secretary general of the 22-member pan-Arab organisation said on Saturday.

“The League’s position is to support the Moroccan position in relation to Leila island which is a Moroccan island,” Mussa told reporters after speaking by phone with Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohammed Benaissa.—AFP