The Hindu : International : `Osama' offers Europe truce

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 16, 2004

International

International

`Osama' offers Europe truce

DUBAI, APRIL 15. Arab television stations aired a new audiotape purportedly from Osama bin Laden today offering a truce with European states if they stop attacking Muslims, but not with the United States.

The voice on the tape, broadcast by Dubai-based Al Arabiya channel and then by Qatar-based Al Jazeera station, said there would be no truce with the United States.

The taped message also vowed revenge on Israel for the death of Hamas leader, Ahmed Yassin, killed last month in Gaza.

It was not immediately possible to verify the authenticity of the tape though the voice sounded like previous tapes thought to be genuine. The CIA has said some previous tapes purportedly from Osama were likely to be genuine.

Osama's Al-Qaeda network is blamed by Washington for the September 11, 2001, attacks on U.S. cities.

The tape said the March 11 train bombings in Madrid that killed 191 people were payment for Spain's actions in Iraq, Afghanistan and ``Palestine''. ``What happened on September 11 and March 11 are your goods returned to you so that you know security is a necessity for all,'' the voice on the tape said.

Madrid sent troops to Iraq after Saddam Hussein was toppled and also has a contingent in Afghanistan. Militants claiming links to Al-Qaeda have claimed responsibility for the Madrid bombings, which have raised pressure on the Government to withdraw Spanish troops from Iraq.

Offer dismissed

European leaders today roundly dismissed an apparent `truce' offer by terror mastermind, Osama bin Laden, saying the idea of negotiating with the Western world's most wanted man was absurd.

Within minutes of each other, Britain, Spain, Italy and the European Union rejected the offer as a ploy by terrorists, even though the authenticity of the voice on the tape could not be verified.

``The idea of an armistice with a group that defines itself by violence is an absurdity,'' a British Foreign office spokesman said.

The Italian Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, whose country is in shock over the execution of one of four Italian hostages in Iraq, said discussing a peace deal with Osama was `unthinkable'.

And Spain's incoming foreign minister, Miguel Angel Moratinos, said the message, which justified the March 11 attacks in Madrid, should be ignored.

The European Commission President, Romano Prodi, said there was no way European nations would accept the truce offer.

``How could you possibly react to this statement? There is no possibility for a deal under a terrorist threat. It is completely impossible,'' he told reporters in Shanghai. - AFP

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