Arab MPs call spain to withdraw from Moroccan cities

Arab parliamentarians, who held the 9th congress of their union in Algiers, called Spain to withdraw from Sebta and Mellilia, two Moroccan cities it still occupies on the Mediterranean coast.

Spain should "withdraw from the occupied Moroccan cities of Sebta and Mellilia and the Jaafarin islands," the MPs said in a final statement.

They urged Madrid to accept a Moroccan proposal to set up a joint group to find a solution to the problem, guaranteeing Morocco's rights and sovereignty and the Spanish residents' interests.

In Rabat, several Moroccan leftist political parties decried "colonial" statements made recently by some Spanish officials regarding the two cities.

The Democratic and Socialist Vanguard Party, the Movement for Democracy, the Democratic Path and the Independent Democrats said in a letter to Spanish Premier, Jose Maria Aznar, that they "strongly denounce the provocative statements," which they termed hostile to the Moroccan people's aspirations.

The parties said Morocco and Spain are able to settle their disputes through adequate juridical means.

Jose Maria Aznar had said recently that Sebta and Mellilia are "Spanish" territory. The stand was affirmed by his foreign minister, Abdel Matutes, who said the two cities "are not on the U.N. agenda and no U.N. resolution has ever been passed regarding the two enclaves. Consequently, they are part of Spain."