Morocco on Friday recalled its Madrid ambassador in protest at a planned visit next week by King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia to the Spanish North African enclaves Ceuta and Melilla, according to dpa. The ambassador will remain in Rabat for "consultations" of unspecified duration, the Moroccan Foreign Ministry said. Morocco claims sovereignty over both "occupied" cities of around 70,000 inhabitants each and had called on Madrid to cancel the visit, which is scheduled to begin on Monday. Spain had previously avoided organizing official visits to Ceuta and Melilla for fear of offending Morocco. Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero visited the autonomous cities in 2006, the first time a Spanish prime minister had done so since 1981.
