East Germans ‘try it on’

Press, 13 June 1986, Page 18

East Germans ‘try it on’

CATHERINE FIELD

reports from West

Berlin on the recent moves by East Germany to turn the boundary between East and West Berlin into their international border.

Tension has been heightened and the fragility of the peace in Berlin underscored by moves by East Germany to force the Western allies to agree to new passport controls for diplomats based in Berlin.

After hurried diplomatic discussions, the East Germans agreed to back down — for the time being. The trouble began when East Berlin-based diplomats were turned back when attempting to cross into the western sectors of a city which still remains divided into four zones: United States, British, French, and Soviet. The eastern or Soviet sector is regarded by the East Germans as their capital city, a fact denied by the three Western allies as well as, in theory, by the Soviet Union.

The East German Foreign Ministry signalled the border tightening intention —

amounted to East Germans formally taking control and treating the limits of the Soviet sector of the city as their international border — by warning embassies that diplomats would be required to show passports. Previously, ‘‘red card” diplomatic passes issued by the Foreign Ministry have sufficed. The irony was that the East Germans justified their move on the basis of Western requests for tougher security after terrorist threats and the bombing of the La Belle disco in West Berlin. Western intelligence sources have pointed to the possibility that Libyan diplomats in East Berlin could have been involved in terror actions in the West.

Initially, East Germany appeared reluctant to act, but when it did, citing increased frontier checks on the western side, it was to the anger — and embarrassment — of the W£st.

Having called for — and applied — tougher security checks, the Western allies seemed, superficially, to be doing an aboutface. “It was a classic case of the East Germans trying it on,” notes one observer. “Increased security in that area should be a problem for the Soviet Union.” The passport clampdown is merely the latest in a string of measures, including incidents such as the Berlin blockade and the building of the wall between east and west, which the East Germans have attempted over the years to gain recognition of Berlin as their capital.

So far, every measure seems only to have strengthened Western resolve to defend and protect Berlin as an occupied zone, albeit in the middle of East Germany. In theory, the Soviet Union also supports this situation, being a signatory, in 1971, to an agreement between the occupying powers to guarantee the existence of Berlin. The agreement, one of the signposts of the East-West detente of the 19705, guaranteed access to all sectors of the city by military, diplomatic, and civilian personnel. And while all

four powers recognised only one Berlin, they also acknowledged that the boundary between east and west was not an international frontier. This has led to the strange situation where Western countries which “do not recognise that East Berlin is a part of the German Democratic Republic and is not its capital,” have their East German embassies in East Berlin in order to be where the East German Government is.

It has always been a thorny — and precarious — problem, and one which has remained dormant for some considerable time now with the Berlin boundary usually featuring only in recent spy-swaps.

This most recent attempt by the East Germans to turn the boundary of the occupied city into an international border has shown just how volatile the area still is. But the West, say diplomats, still has the trump card. Should the East Germans not reverse — rather than just suspend — their "border checks” order in Berlin, Western countries could sever the diplomatic links which East Germany has for over three decades.