King Mohammed VI of Morocco on Monday presided over the ground-breaking ceremony for the construction of a naval base in Ksar Séghir, some 40 km east of Tangiers. The base, Morocco’s first military port on the Mediterranean shore, will be used as a registry for the Royal Navy ships in charge of protecting northern Morocco, according to a statement from the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) issued in Rabat. The port will be a key facility for the Royal Marine in the Gibraltar Detroit and the Mediterranean, due to its strategic location straddling the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, the statement said. The base is expected to be operational in July 2010. Panapress.