Spain vows to get island back from Morocco

MADRID, Spain -- Spain indicated Sunday that it would not use force to get Morocco to withdraw troops from an abandoned flyspeck island on the North African coast, despite its deployment of four warships nearby.

Deputy Interior Minister Pedro Morenes flew into the area to reassert his country's claim to Perejil Island and seek support from allies in pressuring Morocco.

He told reporters that Morocco should "understand that its attitude is truly inadmissible."

Twelve Moroccan troops landed on the island Thursday and raised national flags.

Spain responded Saturday by deploying the war vessels.

Spain would only resort to measures that conform to "what civilized countries try to do in this type of conflict," Morenes said during a visit to Ceuta, a Spanish enclave on the North African coast just three miles from Perejil.

On Monday, Morenes was scheduled to visit Melilla, another enclave further up the coast.

Madrid sent a fourth warship to protect Ceuta and Melilla, so-called "autonomous cities" of Spain, separated from the Iberian peninsula by the Strait of Gibraltar.

The warship Numancia was deployed from Rota, a naval base shared with U.S. forces on the Spanish side of the strait, to join two corvettes and another frigate dispatched for the mission.

Foreign Minister Ana Palacio said in a newspaper interview published Sunday that the deployment was symbolic.

She told El Mundo that she wanted to resolve the incident in a reasonable way.

The minister reminded the Moroccan government that 250,000 of its citizens live in Spain and that the two countries have maintained a Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation since 1991.

The European Union also called on Morocco to withdraw its troops immediately from Perejil, and gave full backing to Spain's claim.

Moroccan Prime Minister Abderrahmane Youssoufi promised Saturday in Rome to "work to find a rapid solution" to "avoid making the conflict more dramatic," according to news reports.

Perejil Island, which Moroccans call Leila, lies several hundred yards from Morocco's coast.

The island, which is a half-mile in diameter, has belonged to Spain since 1668, but is claimed by Morocco. There has been no Spanish presence on the island for the last 40 years.

Morocco insists the island was handed over by Spain in 1956. Morocco claims to want the rock for use in fighting terrorism and illegal immigrant trafficking in the area.

The incursion came as Morocco held several days of celebrations for King Mohamed VI's wedding. The festivities were boycotted by Spain.

It also comes after London said for the first time that it is willing to share sovereignty over Gibraltar, another strategic point which Spain has been trying to regain ever since it was captured by the British in 1704.