No bargaining over territorial integrity, Morocco
Morocco-Spain, Politics, 4/27/2002

Morocco has renewed its constant position rejecting any bargaining over its territorial integrity and over the Moroccan identity of its southern provinces.

Morocco refuses to see Spain make of its position regarding Morocco's territorial integrity "a card to use for blackmail whenever there is a difference in Moroccan-Spanish relations," Moroccan foreign affairs and cooperation minister, Mohamed Benaissa told Qatari Asharq daily.

Morocco proposes to settle differences in their objective frame and insists that its interlocutors speak a clear language, based on frank dialogue and mutual respect, he said, calling for placing Moroccan-Spanish relations in their "legal frame."

Benaissa underlined that Morocco never ceased to claim the recovery of Sebta and Mellilia (two Moroccan northern cities still under Spanish occupation) in the same way as Hong Kong and Macao were restored to China by Britain and Portugal.

The issue of the two cities will remain pending in Moroccan-Spanish relations until an adequate solution is found, said Benaissa, adding no solution can be envisioned outside dialogue and without taking into account the two parties' interests.

Benaissa touched on the issue of the Moroccan Sahara and noted that the partition proposal, contained in the latest report of the United Nations Secretary General "shows the real intentions of our foes." "The partition is contrary to the very principle of self-determination in which Algeria has wrapped itself since the beginning of the conflict," he said.

Morocco is firmly opposed to this option and deems it a colonialist approach devised on the theory of "divide and rule," he said, adding this approach was behind plunging Africa in a spiral of wars and conflicts.

Previous Stories:
  Moroccan red crescent takes part in conference on humanitarian law in Almeria   (4/25/2002)
  Catalonia supreme court annuls an act recognizing puppet Sahrawi republic   (4/18/2002)
  Government briefed on developments in Morocco-Spain ties   (4/13/2002)

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