Madrid dismisses ETA's promise of ceasefire and demands it disbands

Published on Monday 10 January 2011 16:47

Basque separatist group ETA declared a permanent ceasefire yesterday in what it called a firm step toward ending its bloody decades-long fight for independence - but Spain's government dismissed the announcement and demanded that ETA disband outright.

Masked ETA members announced the ceasefire in a video distributed to Spanish media, and its statement also appeared on the website of the pro-independence Basque newspaper Gara, which often serves as an ETA mouthpiece.

But the statement made no mention of ETA dissolving, or giving up its weapons - key demands from successive Spanish governments. A previous ceasefire that ETA declared in 2006 and described as permanent ended after only nine months.

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said Spanish governments and mainstream political parties have maintained that all they want to hear from ETA is that it is disarming and giving up. He added: "It is evident that once again today ETA has not done what we democratic parties expected."

Europe's last major violent political militant group declared a ceasefire in September but gave no details about how long it would last. The statement issued yesterday specified that the group now supports a "permanent and general ceasefire which will be verifiable by the international community".

It added: "This is ETA's firm commitment towards a process to achieve a lasting resolution and towards an end to the armed confrontation."

The statement said ETA is open to dialogue and negotiation, but it also reiterated some of the group's standard positions, such as its belief that the Basque people have the right to decide whether to remain part of Spain or break away.

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Mr Perez Rubalcaba said ETA had maintained a catalogue of demands and an arrogant tone, adding: "In other words, ETA still wants a price to be paid for ending violence."

He said: "If you ask me if this is the end (of ETA], I would say no. If you ask me if this what Spanish society hoped for, I would say definitely not. Put another way, is this bad news? It is not. But it is not the announcement."

Kepa Aulestia is a former ETA member who now works as a political commentator and journalist in the Basque region. He agreed that ETA is resisting giving up without some kind of concession from a government that seems determined not to make any, after it negotiated in 2006 only to see that year end with a huge ETA car bombing that killed two at Madrid airport.Mr Aulestia described ETA as being extremely weak after years of arrests and dwindling support at grassroots level, adding: "We are witnessing a tug of war that ETA is trying to maintain to the effect that it is not yet ready to go away definitively."

ETA is considered a terrorist organisation by Spain and the European Union. It has killed more than 825 people since the late 1960s.

Its political wing, Batasuna, wants to create a new party that rejects violence, turning its leaders into legitimate politicians. Batasuna - banned in 2003 - is now backed by some mainstream Basque parties and civic groups, and has become increasingly vocal in its new position that blowing up police cars and shooting politicians is hindering Basques' cherished but unlikely goal of a country of their own.

The Basque region boasts its own ancient language and culture and already enjoys a broad degree of self-rule.