France gets tougher with terrorists

Press, 1 September 1982, Page 20

France gets tougher with terrorists

From “The Economist,” London

A wave of criticism of the French Government's handling of recent terrorist attacks in Paris has obliged President Francois Mitterrand to play Solomon between two of his own ministers.

The row is between Mr Gaston Defferre. the President's crusty old lieutenant at the Interior Ministry, who wants tougher action against terrorists. and the Justice Minister. Mr Robert Badinter, who is a firm and eloquent opponent of any measures which he feels smack of repression. In a message broadcast on French television on August 17 President Miterrand announced measures designed to plug gaps in France’s anti-terrorist network and put an end to rivalries between the police and the intelligence service.

They include extra border squads, tougher visa controls, a new arms-traffic unit and closer scrutiny of pseudo-diplo-mats, who use embassy connections in France as a cover for shady operations. But Mr Mitterrand has decided not to tamper with the hallowed right of asylum which means that France will continue to harbour a large population of political exiles, includeing some already wanted by other countries for terrorist crimes. Nor is he planning to amend the penal code. The only changes in store on the legal front are a pooling of information on commital proceedings against different members of the same organisation, and a half-baked proposal for a special European court, a sop to countries which accuse France of being uncooperative. The new half-measures suggest that the Government is foxed about what to do against a wave of what it sees as imported terrorism. Since the beginning of 1982,

18 people have been killed in terrorist attacks in France. Of these, two of the deaths can be laid at the door of regional separatist movements and five — victims of a train bomb in March — are still a complete mystery.

The others all appear to have some connection with the Middle East, including the six victims of the bomb and machinegun attack at Goldenberg’s kosher delicatessen in Paris on August 9. So far the police and security forces have had little success in tracing the killers. Mr Mitterrand’s television appearance was an effort to vindicate himself not only against the passionate attack delivered by Israel’s Prime Minister, Mr Menahem Begin, but also against the impact the security issue has had on the Government’s standing. An opinion poll published just a few days ago, assessing Mr Mitterrand's first 15 months, showed that for the first time the number of French men and women “dissatisfied” with the government has risen to more than 50 per cent.

The argument within the Government over how to deal with the terrorists has been going on for four months, eyer since a car bomb directed against Iraqis caused spectacular damage. It was decided then to set up a centralised data bank to hold information on terrorist suspects, and some second thoughts were voiced about the kind of people benefiting from France's generous asylum habits.

This time Mr Defferre. who had already won a battle to keep spot identity checks in force, has done even better. He has not won all the way but has been given some reassuring new weapons. He needs them if he is to

placate senior police officers. A row had already blown up earlier when Mr Defferre dislodged the head of the crime squad, which includes a special anti-terrorist section. The home-based counterespionage unit, the D.S.T. has had the utmost difficulty in adapting to a Government which includes Communists, but Mr Badinter is the man most resented by the police. As a lawyer he fought against the guillotine and as Minister he scrapped it. Significantly, he was left out of the restricted "war council," which agreed on the new measures.

The meeting was also expected to come up with the name of “Mr Anti-terrorism." for France, rather like Italy's General Dalia Chiesa. Instead, it came up with two names - that of a civilian Secretary of State, Mr Joesph Francheschi, and that of Major Prouteau, a gendarme who is head of security at the Elysee Palace and in charge of an antiterrorist squad which showed its mettle at the siege of the Grand Mosque in Mecca in 1979.

France's police had been critical of the Government for dissolving the anti-terrorist state security court, and now wanted tougher legal measures, Put Mr Mitterrand refused to turn the clock back.

The thesis behind Government policy — that leniency pays — was embarrassingly challenged the same morning when one of the founders of a far-Left group. Action directe. who had been released from prison last year, claimed responsibility for three anti-Zion-ist attacks in Paris.

A warrant was sent out immediately to haul him back for questioning and on August 18 Action Directe was formally banned under a 1936 law

against private militias. Mr Mitterrand’s argument for not going farther rests on the hope that a settlement in Lebanon will bring respite from attacks on Jewish targets in France. The 700,000-strong

Jewish community, is also concerned about a stirring of home-gown anti-semitism. Mr Pierre Mendes-France, a former Prime Minister and himself a Jew, a socialist and no admirer of Mr Begin, has

joined in the criticism of "sensationalist" press and television coverage of the war in Lebanon, saying that it helped the Goldenberg killers. Fish of that kind, he said, could live only in a certain kind of water.