Talking to terrorists – it’s a messy mix of soft soap and hard power

There is a crucial difference between talking to terrorists who are on the crest of wave, who believe they have momentum on their side, and those who have been made to believe their strategic commitment to violence is hindering their political aims

IN a few weeks’ time, Spain will mark 50 years since the emergence of ETA as an armed group dedicated to fight for Basque independence. Not that the terrorists have much to celebrate: never before in the past five decades has it been so marginalised. Their attacks have fizzled out and in the elections of March this year to the Basque regional parliament, the two main Spanish parties won 38 seats to the various Basque nationalist parties’ 35.

For the first time since democracy returned to Spain the 1970s, the Basque Country is not ruled by separatists. Is Spain, like us, witnessing the triumph of politics over arms? Certainly, in Spain there has been intense interest in using our Northern peace process as a model for conflict resolution.