Basque separatists declare ‘permanent ceasefire’

Basque separatist group ETA on Monday called a permanent ceasefire in a step towards ending its four-decade campaign of violence.

“ETA has decided to declare a permanent and general ceasefire which will be verifiable by the international community,” it said in a statement.

“This is ETA’s firm commitment towards a process to achieve a lasting resolution and towards an end to the armed confrontation.”

The statement added: “It is time to act with historic responsibility. ETA calls upon those governing Spain and France to end all repressive measures and to leave aside for once and for all their position of denial towards the Basque Country.”

The message made no mention of ETA giving up its weapons, which is a key demand of the Spanish government.

Interior Minister Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba said the ETA ceasefire declaration failed to meet expectations.

“If you ask me if I am calmer today, honestly I would say ‘yes’. If you ask me if it is the end, I would say ‘no’. If you ask me if this statement is what Spanish society was hoping for, I would say ‘absolutely no’,” he told reporters in Madrid.

The group’s armed struggle for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and southwestern France has cost more than 800 lives.

ETA has previously broken so-called permanent ceasefires. A 2006 truce lasted just nine months after peace talks collapsed.

In December of that year, ETA set off a car bomb at Madrid-Barajas airport, killing two men. Six months later it formally called off the ceasefire.

Its last deadly attack on Spanish soil was a July 2009 car bomb that killed two policemen on the island of Mallorca.

Spain, the US and the EU labels ETA as a terrorist organisation.

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