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Committed to peace: ETA

Says attacks on Basque nation must stop

PHOTO: AFP

OLIVE BRANCH: Pro-independence armed Basque group ETA in this file photo. The group on Sunday declared a renewed commitment to peace and a willingness to engage the Spanish government if it stops "attacks" on the Basque region in north Spain.

MADRID: The Basque separatist group ETA said in a statement published on Sunday it remained committed to peace in the troubled northern region so long as there is an end to ``attacks'' on the Basque nation.

In a second statement since it shattered a self-imposed cease-fire with a car bomb at Madrid airport on December 30, ETA said, ``We have the willingness to commit firmly to ... absence of violence, deactivating even options to retaliate within a situation of cease-fire.''

ETA said its commitment would be maintained ``if attacks on the Basque nation disappear.''

The separatist group wants the inclusion in local elections of parties currently outlawed because of their support for ETA, as well as better treatment for ETA prisoners and a reduction in the arrests of its members.

Opportunity denied

``The Basque left is denied an opportunity to participate on equal terms in political negotiations,'' said ETA in the statement, to mark Aberri Eguna, the Basque people's annual feast day.

The statement was published in the Basque newspaper Gara, one of ETA's usual vehicles for communication.

In the statement — written in the form of questions and answers — ETA questioned whether the Socialist government led by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero had the political will to resolve the separatist problem, which has rumbled on for four decades.

The separatist group also called for recognition from France. — AP

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