July 20, 2002	Saturday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 9, 1423

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RABAT, July 19: Morocco on Friday pledged not to send its troops back to a tiny Mediterranean island if Spain withdraws its soldiers, but Madrid said it was waiting for a more official response in the week-long row.

“I’ve already made my promise and I repeat it now publicly: Morocco does not intend to go back to the island once Spanish troops leave it,” Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa said before heading off to France.

Spain sent its forces onto the island, known as Perejil in Spain and Leila in Morocco, to evict a handful of Moroccan soldiers who landed there last week and claimed the islet, which Spain says is part of its territory.

“The fact is that there are military who are within our territorial waters. The island is occupied by Spanish troops. They have to leave and we will then begin the dialogue (process),” Benaissa told Spanish radio.

But Madrid said it wanted an “official response” from Rabat. Interior Minister Mariano Rajoy said only “the usual means established by international law and the states’ relations” were appropriate to discuss the standoff.

Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio said a day before that Spain was ready to pull its troops if Rabat committed to returning to the status quo, when the island was uninhabited.

The row is one of many between Morocco and Spain, which have clashed over clandestine immigration, fishing rights and the disputed territory of Western Sahara.

Talks will be held on the crisis in Brussels on Monday during a monthly meeting of EU foreign ministers, which Benaissa will attend after a stopover in Paris.

Sources say he will also meet European Commission president Romano Prodi on Monday. A Prodi spokesman said he had not “and will not” take a position on the island’s judicial status.

“International law offers a number of possibilities to settle this disagreement peacefully,” the spokesman said.

Several EU states believed the commission went too far last week when it demanded that Morocco immediately withdraw its troops.—AFP