The Moroccan and Spanish foreign ministers met for the first time Monday to discuss a disputed Mediterranean islet, after a U.S.-brokered deal over the weekend prompted Spain to withdraw its troops from Perejil island. The talks between Mohamed Benaissa and Ana Palacio were expected to dwell only on the status of the uninhabited tiny island at the center of a 10-day row between the two neighbors on either side of the Strait of Gibraltar.

It was not clear if the two ministers would brief the media afterwards. Palacio declined to talk to reporters when she arrived at the Moroccan Foreign Ministry in central Rabat.

Following a U.S.-brokered deal, Spanish forces withdrew on Saturday from the islet just a stone's throw from the Moroccan coast.

Madrid had occupied Perejil -- which Moroccans call Leila -- three days earlier and ousted without firing a shot a handful of Moroccan troops sent there on July 11 on a surveillance mission.

Madrid said it wanted to limit Monday's talks to the status of the tiny 13-hectare (30-acre) island, usually uninhabited except for a few grazing goats.

NO TALKS ON SPAIN'S ENCLAVES

Spain ruled out the inclusion of the question of its sovereignty over the two North African enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, on the Moroccan coast, a long-standing sticking point between Rabat and Madrid.

Morocco's official MAP news agency provided no timetable for the talks but a Spanish embassy spokesman said two points were on the agenda:

-- Implementation of the understanding on Perejil-Leila, as established in the letter of Secretary of State Colin Powell on July 20.

-- Arrangement for future discussions.

Morocco has made no mystery that it wanted to put the question of Ceuta and Melilla on the negotiating table but did not insist the issue should be broached right away.

TIMED WITH GIBRALTAR?

Summing up the sentiment in Morocco, the pro-government daily L'Opinion wrote Monday that "bilateral negotiations cannot be limited to the Leila islet only."

Talks must touch on "all pending problems and all aspects of the territorial dispute between Rabat and Madrid, first and foremost the matter of Sebta (Ceuta) and Melilla," it said in an editorial.

Spain has consistently said the future of the two enclaves it has held for centuries is not up for negotiation.

Many believe the timing of the Moroccan move on Perejil was linked to Spain's negotiations with Britain over Gibraltar, another colonial remnant facing Ceuta across the entrance to the Mediterranean.

However, the list of gripes between Madrid and Rabat is long and there are plenty of subjects both may choose to leave for a later stage.

These include fishing rights and the flow of illegal immigrants and drugs trafficking over the Strait of Gibraltar.

PHOTO CAPTION

Spanish Foreign Minister Ana Palacio (out of picture) and her Moroccan counterpart Mohamed Benaissa (L) meet in Rabat on July 22, 2002. (Desmond Boylan/Reuters)