RABAT/MADRID, 21 July — Spanish troops withdrew late last night from a disputed islet in the Mediterranean, a Moroccan Foreign Ministry spokesman said, shortly after the two sides announced an agreement to end the crisis over the rocky outcrop.
"The Spanish government has withdrawn its forces from the Moroccan islet called Leila, as a result of successful contacts with his majesty King Muhammad VI," the spokesman said, quoted by the MAP news agency. Spanish forces on Wednesday evicted Moroccan troops from the uninhabited islet, called Perejil in Spain, which they had occupied on July 11.
Earlier in Washington, Secretary of State Colin Powell said Spain and Morocco yesterday reached a deal to end the heated dispute over the tiny Mediterranean island, following intense US mediation.
The resolution will return the uninhabited islet of Perejil to the status it had before July 11, when the dispute began with Rabat’s dispatch of troops which were evicted from the rocky outcrop six days later by Madrid’s forces, Powell said.
"The United States welcomes the understanding reached by Morocco and Spain over the island, following consultations by the United States with each side," Powell said in a brief statement. "In accordance with this understanding, the two sides have agreed to restore the situation regarding the island that existed prior to July 2002," he said.
Powell, who had made at least 14 phone calls to Spanish and Moroccan officials since Thursday, had been pushing for a deal in which both sides would remove from the island any "outposts, flags and or symbols of sovereignty," according to US officials.
The Spanish government also announced last evening it had agreed with Morocco to end the dispute over the island. "Spain and Morocco have reached an agreement on the island of Perejil that envisages the return to the status quo before the month of July," the government said in a one paragraph statement in Madrid. "The Spanish government thanks Secretary of State Colin Powell for the work done in order to reach this agreement," the statement added. (The Independent)
