SPAIN/MOROCCO: Morocco has pledged not to send its troops back to a tiny Mediterranean island if Spain withdraws its soldiers ahead of talks with European foreign ministers over the crisis.
"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 Mr Mohamed Benaissa said ahead of travelling to France to present the Moroccan point of view.
For the moment, however, "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)," he told Spanish radio.
Spanish Foreign Minister Ms Ana Palacio said on Thursday Madrid was ready to pull its troops from the islet, known as Perejil in Spain and Leila in Morocco, if Rabat undertook to return to the "status quo".
The dispute flared eight days ago when a handful of Moroccan soldiers occupied the territory, only to be evicted by Spanish elite troops, who used helicopters backed by warships to raid the island at dawn on Wednesday.
The row is only the latest 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 Mr Benaissa will attend after a stopover in Paris.On Thursday, Mr Benaissa called on Spanish Prime Minister Mr Jose Maria Aznar to withdraw his troops "from all Moroccan coasts". "If Aznar wants us to take him seriously, he must withdraw his troops not only from Leila island but from all Moroccan coasts," the official MAP news agency quoted Mr Benaissa as saying.
In addition to Perejil, which lies about 200 metres off the Moroccan northern coast, Spain governs two densely populated coastal enclaves and claims sovereignty over several other offshore isles. It was not immediately clear whether Mr Benaissa was calling on Spain to withdraw its forces from the enclaves, Ceuta and Melilla.
On the radio station Cadena Ser, Mr Benaissa demanded "mutual respect" from Spain, saying that the Morocco "of the Spanish civil war (era) no longer exists.
"Today we live in a new Morocco . . . we are in a new democratic process. Spain has to respect who we are at the beginning of the 21st century."
In Washington, State Department spokesman Mr Richard Boucher said US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell had pressed both Morocco and Spain to resolve the dispute over the 13.5-hectare island peacefully.
The European Parliament committee in charge of foreign affairs and the parliamentary delegation overseeing relations with north African countries will meet next Tuesday to deal with the dispute.
