AU urges peaceful isle solution
2002-07-18 13:50
Abidjan - Amara Essy, a top pan-African diplomat, on Wednesday called for a peaceful solution to an escalating row between Spain and Morocco over a disputed islet.
The use of "military force is not a solution for peace and
security in the world", the veteran diplomat and former general
secretary of the now-defunct Organisation of African Unity said.
"One has to find a non-military solution," said Essy, who heads the commission due to set up the new African Union.
Morocco's Foreign Minister Mohamed Benaissa said earlier that
Spain's action in sending elite troops to the disputed
Mediterranean islet of Perejil to evict Moroccan troops was
equivalent to a "declaration of war".
He said the two countries had reached an accord on the dispute
through US mediation on Tuesday night, hours before Spain sent in
its forces to evict a handful of Moroccan troops who moved onto the islet on July 11.
The Spanish government said it had acted in "legitimate defence" after consultations with the UN Security Council, and merely wanted the rocky outcrop left uninhabited as it had been for the previous four decades.
The status of the islet, about the size of a football pitch, has been ambiguous since Madrid's protectorate over parts of Morocco came to an end in 1956. - Sapa-AFP
- SAPA