Situation of Gibraltar, Spain-occupied northern cities: similar cases, fm

There are "similarities" between the situation of Gibraltar and the case of Sebta, Melillia, and the neighboring Islands occupied by Spain, Moroccan minister of foreign affairs and cooperation, Mohamed Benaissa, said here Wednesday.

Speaking at the House of Representatives (lower chamber), the minister said the two cases are much in common, adding that Spanish arguments to recover their rights over Gibraltar are the same ones put forward by Morocco to gain back its occupied territories, the minister added.

The head of the Moroccan diplomacy stressed that in 2001, even before news on negotiations between Spain and Britain were published, Morocco urged, at the UN general assembly, Spain to start discussions on the situation of the two occupied Moroccan cities, like the China-Britain and China-Portugal agreements over Hong Kong and Macao respectively.

Benaissa voiced regret that Spain was not "receptive" to the late king Hassan II's call to set up a joint reflection cell to solve the case.

Morocco, which is following Madrid-London talks over Gibraltar, "will continue to claim" its right to recover its occupied territories, the minister concluded.