Enclave turf wars
BY FERN LANE & MICHAEL PIERSE
The British government has confirmed that it has agreed in
principle to share sovereignty of Gibraltar with Spain. The announcement
came from the foreign secretary Jack Straw in the House of Commons on 12
July, although final negotiations have been delayed until the autumn
over Britain's insistence that it retains a military base on the Rock
and that any eventual deal would be permanent.
Whilst the outcome of negotiations would be the subject of a
referendum, the announcement is an historic recognition that Spain does
have a legitimate claim to the Rock, which was ceded to Britain in the
1713 Treaty of Utrecht.
In his statement, Straw told the House of Commons that the ongoing
dispute with Spain is "damaging to Britain's interests because we are
trying to build a strategic alliance with Spain to help deliver the
European Union that we both seek, and because Spain has repeatedly
blocked European measures we want.
"Above all, the dispute affects the 30,000 Gibraltarians; but it also
affects 60 million Britons. It needs to be solved for good. I know that
there are those who think we should simply tackle the practical
irritants faced by Gibraltarians, but that has been tried for decades
and it has failed. The only way of securing a stable and prosperous
future for Gibraltar is through a comprehensive and permanent settlement
of the dispute, and that means an agreement with Spain on all issues
including sovereignty."
The announcement came after an extraordinary statement by John
Taylor, Lord Kilclooney, in the British House of Lords requesting that
Gibraltar be included in the "constituency of Northern Ireland" and its
inhabitants allowed to vote in local as well as European elections.
Taylor justified the bizarre request by claiming that "Northern
Ireland is Gibraltar's natural home" because "the tallest building in
Gibraltar is called Ballymena House" and because "a large number of
people from Gibraltar were moved to parts of Northern Ireland during the
Second World War - As a result, many Gibraltarians were born in Northern
Ireland". Happily for Taylor and the UUP, the Rock's 30,000 inhabitants
are also, as it happens, virulently pro-British.
Hands off the Parsley
Elsewhere, things have not been going as swimmingly in the
sovereignty stakes for the Spanish. Relations between Spain and Morocco
have been seriously damaged this week in an unresolved dipute over
ownership of the Meditteranean islet of Perejil (in Spanish, the word
for parsley).
Morocco deployed troops to the uninhabited islet during the week,
which has been in Spanish posession for more than 200 years. They did
not have far to travel, as Perejil is just 200 metres off the Moroccan
coast. Sent to tackle "secret migration, drug trafficking and terrorism"
in the 12-mile wide Strait of Gibraltar, the Moroccan troops were
swiftly joined by four Spanish warships. Both countries refused to back
down, with Spain receiving the support of Nato and the EU in its calls
for an immediate Moroccan withdrawal. The European Commission warned
that Moroccan relations with the EU could be jeopardised by the
occupation.
On Wednesday, the Spanish announced that its forces had recaptured
the islet without firing a shot, ousting around 12 Moroccan soldiers.
Spain is less concerned with Perejil than about the future of its two
Gibraltar-like enclaves on the coast of Morocco itself, Ceuta and
Melilla.
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