Skip to main content
BBC NEWS / EUROPE
Graphics VersionBBC Sport Home
News Front Page | Africa | Americas | Asia-Pacific | Europe | Middle East | South Asia | UK | Business | Health | Science & Environment | Technology | Entertainment | Also in the news | Have Your Say |
Saturday, 24 April, 2004, 22:00 GMT 23:00 UK

Spain visit boosts Moroccan ties

Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero Spain's new Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero has said Spain and Morocco will join forces to fight against terrorism.

"We are committed to boosting anti-terrorist co-operation," Mr Zapatero said after talks with King Mohammed VI and Prime Minister Driss Jettou.

His one-day visit comes as 14 Moroccans are being held in Spain on suspicion of involvement in the Madrid bombings.

It was the prime minister's first foreign visit since being appointed.

It has become a tradition for new Spanish prime ministers to make Morocco their first foreign trip.

Attacks remembered

After arriving, Prime Minister Zapatero was received by King Mohammed VI in the royal palace in Casablanca.

Then, in a park in the city centre, the two men unveiled a marble plaque dedicated to the memory of the 33 victims of a series of suicide bombs in Casablanca last year.

Some of the Moroccans being held in Spain are also suspected of having links to the Casablanca attacks.

After talks with both the king and the prime minister, Mr Zapatero told journalists that both countries had been "victims of horrendous attacks".

Morocco and Spain are co-operating in the investigation into the Madrid attacks and extending that co-operation was expected to be high on the agenda of Saturday's talks.

Relations between Spain and Morocco have often been strained - over fishing disputes, immigration and drug-trafficking, says the BBC's Katya Adler.

But new fears of cross-border terrorism have strengthened the resolve of both sides to co-operate, she says.

Warming ties

The visit is "a reunion of two countries which, although they are separated by just a few miles of water, have been too far apart recently because of reproaches and unnecessary tensions", Spanish Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega reportedly told reporters on Friday.

Spanish soldiers on Perejil, 2002 "Morocco and Spain are showing with this meeting that there are not two opposing civilisations, the Arab civilisation and the Western civilisation, but there is a single civilisation which confronts the barbarism of terrorism firmly," she said.

The BBC's Pascale Harter in Casablanca says relations between the two countries are now better than ever.

Correspondents say many Moroccans perceived Spain's previous Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as hostile and contemptuous to their country.

But they have given an enthusiastic welcome to Mr Zapatero.

"Zapatero: the Spain that we love," said the front page of Moroccan daily Aujourd'hui Le Maroc.

"Zapatero is a great man," Moulay Larbi Alaoui, the father of a victim of the Casablanca attacks, told AP news agency.




E-mail this to a friend
Related to this story:
Spain and Morocco reach island deal (22 Jul 02  |  Africa )
Q&A Spain v Morocco (22 Jul 02  |  Europe )
Morocco's shock at Madrid bomb 'link' (17 Mar 04  |  Europe )
Policing Spain's southern coast (01 Apr 04  |  Africa )

RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
Spanish government
Moroccan communications ministry
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites



SEARCH BBC NEWS: 

News Front Page | Africa | Americas | Asia-Pacific | Europe | Middle East | South Asia | UK | Business | Health | Science & Environment | Technology | Entertainment | Also in the news | Have Your Say |

NewsWatch | Notes | Contact us | About BBC News | Profiles | History

^ Back to top | BBC Sport Home | BBC Homepage | Contact us | Help | ©