MADRID, Aug 4: Spain increased its military presence on the North African coast Sunday after Morocco called for the “liberation” of the Spanish north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla.

A corvette and a speedboat were sent to Melilla in order to improve offshore surveillance of the area, the Spanish navy said.

The two vessels were to support two Spanish corvettes sent to the area during last month’s clash with Morocco over the uninhabited island of Perejil, the navy said.

Morocco’s government under socialist premier Abderrahmane Youssoufi had issued a cabinet declaration on Saturday calling for the “liberation” of the Spanish enclaves.

In the declaration Moroccans were asked “to mobilise all their powers ... so that the occupied territories of Ceuta and Melilla and the (uninhabited) Chafarinas islands would be liberated”, the official news agency MAP reported.

While strongly rejecting Morocco’s claims, Spanish Premier Jose Maria Aznar said it was not his intention “to contribute to a flood of declarations and to an escalation which would not help anybody”.

Sources from within the Spanish military said they did not expect Madrid to send more troops to Ceuta and Melilla as it had done during the stand-off over Perejil.

Deputy Premier Mariano Rajoy said he did not believe Rabat would start an “offensive” against Spain over Ceuta and Melilla.

Madrid would not negotiate about the enclaves whose status as Spanish territory was inscribed in the constitution, he said. Ceuta, with 72,000 people, and Melilla, with 65,000 inhabitants, have been under Spanish rule for more than 400 years.—dpa