Spain's new prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, was to seek to deepen bilateral cooperation, particularly in the context of dealing with immigration issues and fighting terrorism, when he visited Morocco yesterday on his first foreign trip since taking office.
Socialist Zapatero, the surprise winner of a March 14 general election which followed in the wake of the Madrid train bombings believed the work of Moroccan extremists and which killed 191 people, would hold talks with King Mohamed VI and Moroccan Prime Minister Driss Jettou in Casablanca.
The city was itself the target of a bomb blast last May in which 45 people were killed, including four Spaniards and 12 suicide bombers.
Spanish authorities believe the Madrid bombers had links to the Moroccan Islamic Combat Group (GICM) deemed to be behind the earlier attack.
In an interview with Friday's edition of El Mundo daily, Zapatero called for "respect and dialogue" with Spain's southern neighbor, the two nations separated by the narrow Strait of Gibraltar but brought together by the pressing issues of terrorism and immigration to Europe via Morocco.
Ties between the two countries were strained under Zapatero's conservative predecessor Jose Maria Aznar and the summer of 2002 saw a spat over a small disputed island -- Perejil in Spanish and known to Moroccans as Leila.
US mediation helped resolve that standoff but Zapatero said he did not want outside involvement getting between Madrid and Rabat in future dealings between the two governments.
The longer-standing confrontation over the status of the former Spanish colony of Western Sahara, to which Morocco has a longstanding claim, is likely not to feature in Zapatero's five-and-a-half-hour visit yesterday, with Spain hoping Morocco will accept a UN-brokered settlement.
The Spanish north African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla are also unlikely to be discussed.
"In principle, Ceuta and Melilla are not a problem and aside from occasional affirmations Morocco respects ... Spain on this issue," according to Zapatero.
In choosing Morocco as his first foreign destination as prime minister Zapatero is not only carrying on a recent Spanish tradition but showing Rabat that Spain wants to deepen ties and recognize that the links between them are of strategic importance for Afro-European relations as a whole.
First deputy prime minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega said the meeting would be a coming together of nations whose relations had often consisted of "reproach and unnecessary tension."
Zapatero and King Mohamed had a lengthy telephone conversation days after the former's election success in which the Moroccan monarch congratulated the Spanish leader on his win and passed on condolences for the March 11 attacks, the worst terrorist outrage Spain has known.
Earlier this week, the king also said he hoped to see "the inauguration of a new era" in bilateral relations during a conversation with Spain's King Juan Carlos.
In his interview with El Mundo, Zapatero said "given that the economic and democratic development of Morocco is in our interest," it was "fundamental" for Spain to give its north African neighbor economic and commercial help, investment and political cooperation.
While in Casablanca Zapatero will inaugurate a commemorative plaque to the victims of last May's blasts in the city.
KINGPIN: Marset allegedly laundered the proceeds of his drug enterprise by purchasing and sponsoring professional soccer teams and even put himself in the starting lineups Notorious Latin American narco trafficker Sebastian Marset, who eluded police for years, was handed over to US authorities after his arrest on Friday in Bolivia. Marset, a Uruguayan national who was on the US most-wanted list, was passed to agents of the US Drug Enforcement Administration at Santa Cruz airport in Bolivia, then put on a US airplane, Bolivian state television showed. “The arrest and deportation were carried out pursuant to a court order issued by the US justice system,” Bolivian Minister of Government Marco Antonio Oviedo told reporters. The alleged kingpin was arrested in an upscale neighborhood of Santa
FAKE NEWS? ‘When the government demands the press become a state mouthpiece under the threat of punishment, something has gone very wrong,’ a civic group said The top US broadcast regulator on Saturday threatened media outlets over negative coverage of the Middle East war, after US President Donald Trump slammed critical headlines from the “Fake News Media.” The US president since his first term has derided mainstream media as “fake news” and has sued major outlets over what he sees as unfair coverage. Brendan Carr, head of the US Federal Communications Commission — which oversees the nation’s radio, television and Internet media — said broadcasters risked losing their licenses over news coverage. “The law is clear. Broadcasters must operate in the public interest, and they will
SCANDAL: Other images discovered earlier show Andrew bent over a female and lying across the laps of a number of women, while Mandelson is pictured in his underpants A photograph of former British prince Andrew and veteran politician Peter Mandelson sitting in bathrobes alongside late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was unearthed on Friday in previously published documents. The image is believed to be the first known photograph of the two men with Epstein. They are currently engulfed in scandal in the UK over their ties to their mutual friend. The undated photograph, first reported by ITV News, shows King Charles III’s disgraced brother and former British ambassador to the US sitting barefoot outside on a wooden deck. They appear to have mugs with a US flag on them
INFLUTENTIAL THEORIST: Habermas was particularly critical of the ‘limited interest’ shown by German politicians in ‘shaping a politically effective Europe Jurgen Habermas, whose work on communication, rationality and sociology made him one of the world’s most influential philosophers and a key intellectual figure in his native Germany, has died. He was 96. Habermas’ publisher, Suhrkamp, said he died on Saturday in Starnberg, near Munich. Habermas frequently weighed in on political matters over several decades. His extensive writing crossed the boundaries of academic and philosophical disciplines, providing a vision of modern society and social interaction. His best-known works included the two-volume Theory of Communicative Action. Habermas, who was 15 at the time of Nazi Germany’s defeat, later recalled the dawn of
RSS