Arab League chief heads to Madrid over Moroccan islet crisis

Arab League Secretary General, Amr Moussa, announced yesterday he would make a trip to Spain next Tuesday to discuss with Spanish officials the crisis over the Moroccan Leila islet.

In a statement carried by Egyptian Al Akhbar daily, Moussa said he would confer with Spanish foreign minister, Ana de Palacio, on ways to peacefully settle the crisis between the two countries.

The Moroccan Leila islet should not be the object of a military conflict between Spain and Morocco, Moussa said.

The Arab League Secretary General has since the outbreak of the crisis over the Moroccan islet voiced "full support" of all Arab States to Morocco's rights and their solidarity with the Kingdom in the case and expressed "deep regret" after Spain used on Wednesday at dawn force and concentration of military units to occupy the Moroccan Leila islet.

In a statement released Wednesday by the Arab League, Amr Moussa said such a behavior "does not serve in any way the interests of the two neighboring countries, Spain and Morocco, and their multiform relations." Underlining the need to avoid that these developments impact on Arab-Spanish relations, Amr Moussa called Spain "to withdraw its forces" from the islet and "to start immediate negotiations with Morocco." The Arab League chief who stressed the necessity to respect Morocco's inalienable rights said "the strength of Arab-Spanish relations must help overcome this kind of dispute that must be settled peacefully through political means."

In another statement to the Moroccan TV channel 2M, Amr Moussa called for the respect of Morocco's sovereignty of the islet. "We want to put an immediate end to any military operation, we want the two countries' foreign ministers reach an agreement and we want Morocco's sovereignty over the islet be respected," the Arab League chief told the TV.