Leading party wants Spain to deal with occupied Moroccan towns

The Socialist Union of Popular Forces (USFP/) ed by prime minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi) said dialogue with Spain should include all pending issues, including the Spanish colonial presence on the Moroccan coasts, particularly in the two occupied Moroccan northern towns of Sebta and Melilia.

In a statement released yesterday, the USFP says Spain's bellicose attitude poses the persisting question of its colonial presence and its occupation of the Moroccan cities of Sebta and Melilia and the neighboring islands.

Henceforth, all negotiation is impossible unless Spain unconditionally withdraws from the Leila islet and relations cannot be normalized if Spain does not renounce its military presence in the Moroccan territorial waters.

The statement of the USFP political bureau which strongly condemns Spain's colonial aggression voices full support to king Mohammed VI, supreme chief and chief of staff of the Royal Armed Forces, and backing to all initiatives taken by the Moroccan government as part of international legality and Morocco's commitments for securing security and stability conditions in the Western Mediterranean and in the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean dialogue.