PEACE PROPOSALS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 31, 6 February 1945, Page 6

PEACE PROPOSALS

GOVERNMENT'S TERMS

LONDON, February 4. At the opening of the peace conference between the EAM- and the _ Greek Government the Foreign Minister, M. Sofianopoulos, declared that the # ELAS must disarm and release immediately all hostages. He also announced that a new Greek national army would be formed in cooperation with the British authorities. The conference opened at a seaside villa 20 miles from Athens. The Government delegates were M. Sofianopoulos, the Minister of the Interior, M. Ralhs. and the Minister of Agriculture M. Macroppulos. The EAM delegates were M. Siantos, secretary-general of c? c Communist Party and a member of the ELAS central committee, M. Partsalides, general secretary of the EAM central committee, and M. Tsirimokos. leader of the Union of Popular Republicans.

M. Sofianopoulos announced that the Government would hold a free plebiscite to decide its form and constitution, and also free elections, with Allied observers attending to make sure that the people's will is genuinely expressed. The gendarmerie and police would remain in being till reorganised on the basis of recommendations from a visiting British police mission. Police officers and men guilty of criminal actions or collaboration with the enemy would be removed. Bearing arms against the Government would not in itself be regarded as an indictable offence. This concession was granted as an "act of grace" to assist the country's speedy pacification. Thus no penalties would be enforced on members of the ELAS unless they were individually guilty of acts either contrary to the rules of war or m ™ o under the criminal code. M. Sofianopoulos emphasised that these provisions were conditional on the release of hostages and the disarmament of all irregular forces. DISAGREEMENT ARISES. Disagreement appears to have arisen between the EAM and the GoverngS?4rW^tions last ni^ lays t£ c? Athens correspondent. M. Siantos, head of the EAM deleI gation, referring to the Government | proposals for the punishment of ELASiites indictable under the criminal code said that no one could approve °f. t f he crimes which had been com- ;™?. ' bu-U he F uestioned the Govern--;menf s ability to isolate such cases and said that any generalisation would degenerate into persecution. He therefore requested that all such prosecutions should cease, and added tfc t£ Acme£ hai been c°mmitted on the ELAS side they had also been committed "by those who, up to the n^Tkitlll^ the Pe°P?e in the

M. Siantos said that the new army must be free from all political influences. He urged the necessity for a purge of collaborationists and Fascist elements in the State administrations, including the police and gendarmerie, and asked for the enlargement of the Government to represent all sides. A plebiscite should be held as soon as possible, and a date fixed now.

M. Siantos denied that the events in December were a revolution. He maintained that they were an unavoidable popular effort against activities which were obviously tending towards a coup d'etat. The Athens correspondent of the British United Press reports M. Siantos as saying that the ELAS would continue to fight if a single EAM follower was tried without justification