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http://sg.news.yahoo.com/020923/1/331x5.html Agence France-Presse Monday September 23, 9:49 PM Rabat uses "minor incident" to scuttle talks: Madrid [US and French military client state Morocco, invader and occupier of Western Sahara (thanks currently to James Baker and Kofi Annan) and linchpin of NATO's Mediterranean Dialogue - which, moreover, recently saved NATO and the civilized world from al-Qeda - seems, quite in keeping with the times, to have territorial claims on NATO junior flunky Spain. Perhaps the Spanish people, NATOized through no choice and no fault of their own, are expected to draw some minor solace from the fact that German President Rau laid a wreath at the collective gravesite of Nazi Wehrmacht troops - and an estimated 1,500 Franco Falangist *volunteers* - outside of St.Petersburg/Leningrad, where the largest civilian toll of any siege in human history was exacted at the hands of those so honored.] Spain accused Morocco of using a "minor incident" to scuttle talks aimed at rebuilding trust after a bitter territorial dispute that capped a year of deteriorating relations. Defense Minister Federico Trillo said in the central city of Leon that a Spanish helicopter had merely overflown a disputed islet on Sunday, denying a charge that the aircraft had landed there. He said a "minor incident (was) provoked by the Moroccans as a pretext to suspend the visit to Madrid" by Moroccan Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa for the scheduled talks with his Spanish counterpart Ana Palacio. The Moroccan government had not reacted by 2:30 pm (1230 GMT) to repeated Spanish denials on Monday. The dispute over the islet off the Moroccan coast, known as Perejil in Spain and Leila in Morocco, was ostensibly settled by a July 22 accord. The row exacerbated relations already strained over fishing, oil exploration off the Canary Islands, drug and people trafficking and Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony annexed by Morocco in 1975. Trillo told a press conference that Rabat had had a "disproportionate" reaction on Sunday when it called the alleged landing "an unacceptable act by which Spain has once again violated Moroccan national air space and territory". The defense minister said: "The helicopter conducted a flight at low altitude over the islet, without landing on the ground, without performing any maneuver that could be considered unfriendly or even out of the ordinary," he said. A statement issued by the Spanish government earlier Monday, also denying the alleged helicopter landing, pledged to continue honoring the July accord. It said Madrid was "surprised by the interpretation" by Rabat of the Spanish helicopter movement. Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio had earlier issued a similar denial on Spanish television. The Moroccan foreign ministry had said Sunday: "This very regrettable incident breaks the spirit and the letter of the (July) accord in the most blatant manner." The statement questioned the "real motives" of the alleged action, "which took place precisely on the eve of the meeting scheduled for Monday in Madrid between the foreign ministers of both countries". Trillo said the Spanish army had detected the presence of a Moroccan patrol boat about a mile from the islet and saw a dinghy being readied, with its destination unknown, and the helicopter was deployed to investigate. The Perejil/Leila dispute erupted in July when Spanish forces expelled a handful of Moroccan troops sent by Rabat to establish an "observation post" on the islet. The two countries are also at odds over the continued flow of migrants -- most crossing the 12-kilometre (eight-mile) Strait of Gibraltar and landing on southern Spain's Andalusian coast. Dozens of people drown among the thousands of migrants who attempt to cross illegally from north Africa to Spain every year, with many also falling victim to overcrowding and harsh conditions. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
