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More Migrants Enter Spain's North African Territories

Fifteen African migrants, including a young girl, entered Spain's north African territory of Melilla illegally on Monday on a small inflatable boat, Spanish authorities said.

Three other African migrants entered Ceuta, Spain's other north African Territory, by passing underneath a barbed wire border fence, officials said.

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Over 200 Migrants Force Way into Spain's Melilla

More than 200 migrants stormed across a triple-layer border fence into Spain's north African territory of Melilla on Friday, Spanish authorities said, in one of the largest such crossings in years.

Some 300 people launched the dawn assault to cross into the Spanish city, which lies on the northern tip of Morocco, and 214 made it across, the authorities said.

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Morocco Islamist Cleared of 'Threats' against Egypt Envoy

A member of Morocco's ruling Islamist party was cleared on Thursday of accusations by the Egyptian ambassador that she threatened him during a telephone call denouncing president Mohammed Morsi's ouster.

Khadija Mansour, 25, was arrested after she rang the embassy in Rabat in December to protest that the Egyptian authorities had no legitimacy following the army's overthrow of the country's first freely elected president in July, her lawyer Toufik Moussaif said.

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Hollande Calls Morocco King to Defuse Row

French President Francois Hollande has telephoned Morocco's King Mohammed VI to soothe diplomatic tensions raised by civil lawsuits filed in Paris accusing Morocco's intelligence chief of "complicity in torture."

Morocco, a close ally with strong commercial and cultural ties to its former colonial ruler, had reacted furiously to the announcement last Thursday of two lawsuits filed by an NGO against Abdellatif Hammouchi, the head of its domestic intelligence agency (DGST).

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100 African Migrants Force Way into Spain's Melilla

Some 500 African migrants stormed a triple barbed-wire border fence Monday that divides the Spanish territory of Melilla from Morocco, with about 100 making it over, an official said.

The migrants targeted two different sections of the border and were "very violent" as they used "sticks and threw rocks at Spanish and Moroccan police", said a spokeswoman for the Spanish government's representative in Melilla.

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Protesters Mark Morocco Reform Movement's Anniversary

Hundreds of protesters gathered Thursday to demand change on the anniversary of Morocco's pro-reform movement, born out of Arab Spring unrest three years ago, but weaker than it once was.

Members of the February 20 movement were joined in Rabat by unemployed school leavers and Berber activists as they waved banners and chanted slogans denouncing corruption, injustice and despotism outside parliament, an Agence France Presse journalist reported.

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Arab Spring Turmoil Mutes Morocco Protest Movement

When Arab Spring protests erupted in early 2011, Morocco's February 20 pro-reform movement mobilized mass demonstrations, but three years on its goals remain frustrated and regional turmoil has dampened demand for change.

The movement that once brought tens of thousands onto the streets of main cities now musters just a few dozen activists to call for democratic reforms or denounce the high cost of living.

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Moroccan King to Weigh in on Mali Peace Process

Morocco's King Mohammed VI was due to land in Mali Tuesday for a five-day tour to support the country's peace process, with Rabat aiming to wrest the diplomatic initiative from its more dominant regional rival Algeria.

The king will be guest of honor of President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita for his first visit since attending the Malian leader's inauguration in September.

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250 Migrants Breach High Defenses of Spanish Enclave in Morocco

A wave of around 250 African migrants on Monday managed to breach the high defenses of the Spanish enclave of Melilla in Morocco, with more than half making it into the EU territory, officials said.

"Around 150 sub-Saharan immigrants succeeded in entering Melilla after launching a massive border assault," the local Spanish government representative's office said.

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Morocco Police Beat Sahrawi Protesters as British MPs Visit

Plainclothes Moroccan police violently broke up a peaceful pro-independence protest in the Western Sahara city of Laayoune after a visit by a British MP, a prominent Moroccan rights group said Monday.

About 100 activists, including women, gathered on Saturday evening in the neighborhood of Maatallah, despite police efforts to block the protest, according to Hamoud Iguilid from the Moroccan Association of Human Rights (AMDH).

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