RABAT, Morocco (AP) — The interior ministers of Spain and Morocco pledged Monday to cooperate more closely on security during talks that sought to ease a flare-up of tensions centering on a small Spanish enclave in North Africa.
Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba also met with King Mohammed VI during his trip to Morocco. Discussions with his Moroccan counterpart also focused on illegal immigration, drug trafficking and terrorism, according to a joint statement.
The statement avoided any mention of the sensitive subject of Melilla, the Spanish enclave at the center of their recent uneasy ties.
Moroccan activists have recently blockaded food shipments into Melilla, a North African city of 70,000 people that Morocco calls "occupied" territory. Morocco claims both Melilla and another North African Spanish enclave further to the west, Ceuta.
The protests followed allegations of brutality and racism by Spanish border police toward Moroccans entering Melilla.
Melilla depends on Morocco for shipments of perishable products and construction materials like bricks and gravel. About 35,000 Moroccans cross daily into the enclave to work or shop.
The protesters have also used the border dispute to press Morocco’s long-standing claim that Spain should hand over control of the two Spanish enclaves. Spain rejects any talk of giving them up.
The joint statement released after the interior ministers’ talks directed attention to other areas. The ministers pledged to fight drug trafficking and boost cooperation and discussion between security forces, as well as increase the number of liaison officers.
Moroccan Interior Minister Taieb Cherkaoui said he planned to visit Spain soon, the kingdom’s official MAP news agency reported.
The two countries’ relations had their most serious test in 2002, when a handful of Moroccan soldiers occupied a nearby rocky Spanish island inhabited by goats. Spain’s conservative government of then-Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar sent in commandos to eject the Moroccan troops, and it took U.S. involvement to negotiate an end to the dispute.
