Morocco
News.
Spanish Prime Minister Luis Rodriguez Zapatero is
expected Friday in Morocco where he will hold talks with his Moroccan
counterpart Abbas El Fassi and meet with King Mohammed VI, Moroccan media
reported Tuesday.
The Spanish head of government is due to discuss with
Moroccan officials on topics related to investments and migration, one of the
key issues between the two countries, media reports quoted unnamed diplomatic
sources as saying, the meeting was postponed at least three times since
the beginning of the year for schedule reasons, sources added.
The visit
is scheduled at a date corresponding with the sixth anniversary of a crisis that
erupted in 2002 between Morocco and Spain over a small, uninhabited island 200
meters off the Moroccan Mediterranean shores, the crisis broke out when
Spain sent troops to chase a handful of Moroccan soldiers who had moved to the
island, known as Perejil for Spaniards and as Leila in Morocco, after the north
African kingdom got wind that the then Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar
was planning to invade the rock.
Talks between the two countries to
remedy the situation had taken about a week, and would have lasted longer if the
former U.S. State Secretary Collin Powell did not intervene to urge both
countries to settle the problem, relations between Morocco and Spain
have always been shaken by intermittent diplomatic crises. The latest broke out
in June when Spanish police arrested a Moroccan member of parliament on an
alleged case of wife abuse.
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