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Spain hopes for end to ETA terrorism

Giles Tremlett

Islamist train bombings in Madrid reduced support for the group

A VIOLENT PAST: Policemen inspect the site of a blast in Fuengirola, Spain, in this June 2002 file photo. — PHOTO: AP

Madrid: The armed Basque separatist group ETA declared a permanent ceasefire on Wednesday in what many hoped would mark a definitive end to almost four decades of domestic terrorism in Spain.

In a video communique sent to a Basque television station, one of Western Europe's longest-lived and most lethal terrorist groups said it would down arms at midnight on Thursday.

The announcement was read by a masked woman who sat at a table with two other masked people in front of a banner showing the serpent and axe that are the symbols of the ETA. ``A message from Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA) to the Basque people,'' she said. ``ETA has decided to declare a permanent ceasefire from March 24, 2006.''

Expected move

The ETA's action had been widely predicted, though it was too early to say whether the declaration would mark the end of a campaign of violence that started under the dictatorship of Franco and has claimed about 850 lives. It was not clear whether backing for the ceasefire was unanimous among the ETA's members, or whether a breakaway faction was lurking in the wings.

The communique did not state that the ETA was prepared to hand over its arms, which are thought to be hidden in secret depots in the south of France. But it brought euphoric reactions in Spain's Basque country and words of caution from the Socialist Government of Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

Mr Zapatero's deputy, Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega, said the announcement was ``good news for Spaniards'', but added that ``the Government must be more cautious than ever. It is our desire that this should be the beginning of the end,'' she said at the Senate.

The ceasefire was viewed with suspicion by the conservative Opposition People's party, which has opposed talks and demanded that a much-weakened ETA be forced into an unconditional surrender.

``This is a pause,'' said the party's leader, Mariano Rajoy. ``It is not a renunciation of criminal activity.''

Analysts said the Islamist train bombings that killed 191 persons in Madrid two years ago had also sucked the oxygen of support away from the ETA.

With a peace process expected, the ETA was careful not to kill anyone in a series of recent bomb attacks against buildings, designed as a show of force before the negotiations started. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

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