20100814
xinhuanet

RABAT -- Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba is due to visit Morocco on Aug. 23 for talks with his Moroccan counterpart in an apparent attempt to ease tensions erupted recently between the two countries.

Rubalcaba will embark on a working visit to Morocco, during which he will hold talks with Moroccan Interior Minister Taieb Cherkaoui on "issues of mutual concern, including security cooperation and the fight against illegal immigration, drug trafficking, organized crime and terrorism," state-run MAP news agency reported, citing a statement by the interior ministry.

Relations between the two countries strained after Morocco accused the Spanish police of using violence in several incidents against Moroccan citizens at the border in Melilla, one of two Spanish-controlled enclaves on Morocco's coast.

The North African also accused Spanish coast guards of abandoning a group of sick sub-Saharan migrants off the Moroccan coasts.

King Juan Carlos of Spain on Wednesday phoned his Moroccan counterpart Mohammed VI in a bid to ease the row. The call came one day after Spanish Prime Minister Luis Rodrigues Zapatero denied any wrongdoing by the Spanish police, saying that his government was ready to clarify and discuss any incidents.

Morocco considers Melilla and the other Spanish enclave on the Moroccan coasts, Ceuta, are occupied Moroccan territories, a claim rejected by Madrid which reaffirmed its sovereignty over the two territories.