Morocco Recalls Ambassador in Protest of the Spanish King Visit to the Occupied Cities of Cebta and Melila

AP Headline: Morocco Recalls Ambassador in Flap With Spain Over Enclaves

By HAROLD HECKLE Associated Press Writer

Nov 2, 2007, 5:06 PM EDT

MADRID, Spain (AP) --

Morocco recalled its ambassador from Spain on Friday after what it called a regrettable plan by Spain's king and queen to visit two (Moroccan cities still under Spanish occupation).

King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia are to make their first official (but provocative) visit to (the Moroccan cities of Cebta and Melilla). Both territories are claimed by Morocco and are located on its northern Mediterranean coastline.

Spain insists the cities are as Spanish as Madrid or Barcelona. Morocco calls them "occupied" territory.

The two-day royal visit starting Monday, long-sought by (the Spanish settlers of the two Arab cities), will be Juan Carlos' first trip to Cebta and Melila as head of state. He and his wife visited in 1970, before he became king.

Morocco's Foreign Ministry announced the "indefinite recall for consultation" of Ambassador Omar Azziman "following the official announcement ... of the regrettable visit by his majesty King Juan Carlos on Nov. 5 and 6 to the occupied cities of Cebta and Melila," the official Moroccan news agency MAP said Friday.

Morocco's claim to Cebta and Melila has been a long-standing sore point in bilateral relations, which have become closer since 2004, when Spain's left-leaning Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero took office, replacing conservative (colonialist) Jose Maria Aznar.

The (conflict over the two cities) is one of several sources of tension across the narrow straits that divide Morocco and Spain.

This week, Moroccan government spokesman Khalid Naciri questioned the motivations of a Spanish judge, Baltasar Garzon, who announced the opening of an inquest into suspected atrocities against North African Saharawi people - ostensibly at the hands of Moroccan authorities. Naciri accused Garzon of dabbling in politics.

Spain withdrew from its former colony of the Western Sahara after the death of dictator Francisco Franco in 1975, and Morocco annexed the territory - the Saharawi people's ancestral homeland. Saharawis have said crimes were committed during and after the Moroccan invasion.

In 2002, during Aznar's premiership, a handful of Moroccan soldiers briefly (landed on) the half-square-mile (a Moroccan island occupied by Spain), near the Moroccan coast.

Spanish troops swiftly dislodged the Moroccans from the rocky island. Under a U.S.-mediated diplomatic resolution, both sides agreed not to put troops on it again.

On Thursday, MAP carried comments from Naciri on relations with Spain.

"All Moroccans agree that Cebta and Melila are Moroccan and that there is not a single Moroccan who thinks or who would write otherwise," he was quoted as saying.

Naciri stressed Morocco's desire for good relations with Spain, but added that "the time for colonial responses is definitely over."

There are "red lines related to Morocco's territorial integrity that must not be crossed," MAP quoted Naciri as saying. "Our Spanish friends should understand."

He called for a solution to the problem through negotiations.

An official of the Spanish royal palace, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to say why the royal couple had chosen now to make the trip.

The last Spanish monarch to visit Cebta and Melila was Juan Carlos grandfather, Alfonso XIII, in 1927.

Spanish leaders tend to stay away from them because of the political sensitivities. A January 2006 visit by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was the first official trip by a Spanish premier since 1980.

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Associated Press writers Daniel Woolls in Madrid and John Leicester in Paris contributed to this report.

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