Military

DAY=07/22/02

TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP

TITLE=SPAIN/MOROCCO DISPUTE

NUMBER=6-125762

BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE

DATELINE=WASHINGTON

EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS

TELEPHONE=619-3335

CONTENT=

INTRO: A ten-day standoff between Spain and Morocco over claims to a tiny island just off the Moroccan coast is over. U-S Secretary of State Colin Powell helped return the status quo. We get a sampling of American press reaction to the incident from V-O-A's __________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.

TEXT: The incident began almost two weeks ago when a small group of Moroccan police officers landed on the uninhabited island. Within days, Spanish commandos escorted them peacefully off the island and Spanish warships began patrolling the area. As both sides made increasingly hostile claims, Secretary of State Colin Powell stepped in to broker an agreement which took effect Saturday and the island returned to its uninhabited state.

Serious disputes troubling the Spanish-Moroccan relationship remain. They include control of two ancient Spanish city-colonies on Moroccan soil; offshore oil drilling rights; drug smuggling; the future of the Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony claimed by Morocco; and Morocco's desire to be part of the Spanish-British dialogue over Gibraltar's future.

In Texas, The San Antonio Express-News suggests that the dispute over one small island could develop into something much more serious:

VOICE: With the world's serious problems, a tempest brewing off the coast of Morocco is almost comical. Spain and Morocco, separated by the narrow Strait of Gibraltar, are creating a crisis out an island the size of a football [soccer] field. . The last time something remotely similar happened, Argentina and Great Britain went to war over the Falkland Islands. The Spanish-Morocco dispute already has polarized other nations. The European Union backs Spain. Arab nations side with Morocco.

. The world does not need this conflict. The island is essentially a rock, not large enough to be of great value to either side. Surely, something else is at play here. Spain and Morocco should settle their real issues, leaving the tiny island in peace.

TEXT: A view from Texas and the San Antonio Express-News.

In the East, The Boston Globe also notes it is easy not to take the conflict seriously, but points out there are important underlying problems:

VOICE: If this month's mock war in the Strait of Gibraltar were a movie, [the late and well-known British comedian] Peter Sellers would play the foreign and defense ministers of both countries. The opening shot: A few Moroccan soldiers pitch a tent and raise their nation's flag on the slightly more than one kilometer-long rock called Perejil by Spaniards and Leila by Moroccans.

A long shot shows a few lonely goats roaming the islet, and then the camera enters one of the caves where smugglers have stashed bundles of hashish that are destined for the streets of European cities. In fact, last year European customs authorities seized 200 metric tons of hashish; 85 percent of that total originated in Morocco.

But the timing is not right for rational dialogue or diplomatic restraint. Spain and Morocco are embroiled in overlapping disputes about fishing rights, immigration, the Spanish enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla on the Moroccan side of the strait, and Morocco's claim to the . Western Sahara. With dialogue between the two lapsing and with Morocco facing elections in September and a rising tide of Islamist opposition, the Moroccans felt compelled to make an impulsive gesture of nationalist pride, and the Spaniards could not help answering in kind. . If the statesman enacting this farce were not illustrating the folly of so many tragic conflicts around the world, their invasions of an empty rock in the water would be laughable.

TEXT: Excerpts from an editorial in the Boston Globe.

Pennsylvania's Pittsburgh's Post-Gazette explains that there was definitely more to this dispute than was superficially evident.

VOICE: What was all this about? .The Moroccans are smarting over the fact that the Spanish Island is only about 200 meters off their shore. In addition, Spain has insisted on holding onto two small colonies on the North African coast- - Ceuta and Melilla. The Moroccans are also cross that they have . not been brought into negotiations between Britain and Spain over the future of [the British fortress of] Gibraltar.

TEXT: Lastly, The Los Angeles Times points out that this tiny, disputed island is not by any means alone in its role as a geographic friction point between nations.

VOICE: The world is spotted with such minor geographic and political anomalies, often military prizes, outposts and fueling stations from long-ago conflicts and their ensuing treaties. The United States got Guam from Spain and kept it . Britain and Portugal ceded Hong Kong and Macao back to China. France still owns Saint Pierre and Miquelon just off Canada's Newfoundland. And, of course, right by Spain there's a large Mediterranean rock called Gibraltar, which . has as much to do with its British owners geographically as salsa.

TEXT: On that note from The Los Angeles Times, we conclude this sampling of editorial comment from the American press on the Spanish-Moroccan island dispute.

NEB/ANG/FC