European nations reject purported bin Laden truce offer

Key European nations, including Iraq war opponents Germany and France, vigorously rejected a truce offer purportedly from Osama bin Laden, saying there could be no negotiating with his al- Qaida terrorist network.

Many saw the audiotaped offer, broadcast yesterday, as a blatant attempt to drive a wedge between the US and its European allies, exploiting their differences over Iraq. The offer suggested a subtle shift in strategy by the al-Qaida chief, who in the past has directed his bloody campaign against the West in general.

One analyst said the shift was unsurprising, however, given bin Laden’s “opportunism”. Another observer said the three-month truce offer might contain a message to militants to hold back on attacks against Europe.

The tape, which US intelligence officials said is probably an authentic recording of bin Laden, was broadcast yesterday on Arab TV stations offering “a truce … to any country which does not carry out an onslaught against Muslims or interfere in their affairs”.

Britain rejected the notion it would remove its troops from Iraq in return for immunity from attack.

“One has to treat such claims, such proposals, by al Qaida with the contempt they deserve,” said UK Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, adding: “I’m afraid that it is yet another barefaced attempt to divide the international community.”

In Italy, a nation shocked by the killing of an Italian civilian captured by militants in Iraq, foreign minister Franco Frattini said it was “unthinkable that we may open a negotiation with bin Laden, everybody understands this”.

French President Jacques Chirac, one of the firmest opponents of the war that ousted Saddam Hussein, was equally clear: “No dealings are possible with terrorists.”

Germany, which is now helping train Iraqi police, also strongly rejected the truce offer. “Any attempt to split Europe will fail,” said German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell said he was pleased by the reaction.

“I think that the international community realises that they cannot give in to these kinds of threats,” he told reporters in Washington. “I hope this will strengthen our determination to deal with terrorism and especially to do everything we can to bring Osama bin Laden to justice.”

The tape, broadcast on the pan-Arab television stations Al-Jazeera and Al-Arabiya, is the first since January attributed to bin Laden, believed to be hiding in mountains along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Aside from any attempt to hinder cooperation with the US, the message also serves to inform the world – and possible al-Qaida followers – that bin Laden is alive amid a heightened military hunt for him. The recording was apparently made in recent weeks, the CIA said, because it includes a reference to Israel’s March 22 killing of Hamas founder Sheik Ahmed Yassin.

“I am offering a truce to European countries,” the speaker on the tape said. “Its core is our commitment to cease operations against any country which does not carry out an onslaught against Muslims or interfere in their affairs.”

The message said “the door to a truce is open for three months,” but the period could be extended. “

The truce will begin when the last soldier leaves our countries,” the speaker said without elaborating.

The speaker on the tape appealed to European public opinion, saying the truce offer was “a reconciliation initiative in response to the recent positive developments that have appeared” – an apparent reference to the defeat of Spain’s pro-Iraq war government after March 11 bombings that killed 191 people in Madrid.

Yet Spain’s incoming Socialist government – which promised to pull all 1,300 Spanish troops out of Iraq – also denounced the message.

“What we want is peace, democracy and freedom,” said incoming foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.

Analysts said the tape was an attempt to encourage Europeans to press their governments to stop supporting US military operations in Muslim nations.

It also could be a message to al-Qaida sympathizers to stop European operations that might have the result of galvanising support for US President George W Bush’s war on terror, said Montasser el-Zayat, an Egyptian lawyer who defends Islamic radicals.

“Bin Laden is seeing how those bombings (in Madrid) were used by the Americans to pressure Europe into more action,” he said. “This tape is a message to those groups to cease these actions.”