Spanish parties reject ETA ceasefire as insufficient - Summary

Mon, 06 Sep 2010

Madrid - The Spanish government and the main political parties Monday rejected a ceasefire declared by the militant Basque separatist group ETA as insufficient, insisting that ETA must definitively lay down its arms.

ETA said Sunday it would carry out no more "offensive military actions," without giving the duration of the truce or other details.

ETA described the ceasefire as forming part of attempts to launch a "democratic process" involving negotiations so that the Basques could freely decide their future.

Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba described the truce as "insufficient," insisting that ETA "must leave violence completely and forever."

ETA was making a "technical pause" because it was no longer able to carry out attacks, and needed to rebuild its structure, Rubalcaba said.

The government would not change its hardline anti-terrorism policy "one iota," the minister vowed.

ETA, which has killed about 850 people in its campaign for a Basque homeland, had not carried out significant attacks in Spain for over a year.

Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega stressed the unity of the democratic forces in demanding a military surrender which was "the only way out" for ETA.

Infrastructure Minister Jose Blanco attributed the ceasefire to police and judicial pressure that had weakened ETA.

Jose Antonio Alonso, a spokesman for Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero's Socialist Party, said the truce was probably a "purely tactical" move ahead of the 2011 municipal elections.

ETA's political wing Batasuna had called for a ceasefire in the hope that such a move would persuade Spanish courts to lift a 2003 ban on the party's activities which prevents it from contesting elections.

ETA's credibility was "zero" after the group broke its previous, nine-month ceasefire with a car bombing that killed two Ecuadorians at Madrid airport in December 2006, Alonso said.

That attack shattered an attempt at peace talks. Alonso said the government would not talk to ETA again.

Dolores de Cospedal from the main opposition conservative People's Party said the only move expected from ETA was surrender without getting any political concessions in return.

Even during previous attempts at negotiations, Spanish governments have refused to discuss ETA's key demand, a sovereign Basque state created out of northern Spain and southern France.

The ceasefire did not even meet the expectations of Batasuna, Basque regional Prime Minister Patxi Lopez said. Batasuna had said the truce needed to be permanent and under international supervision.

ETA's violence is opposed by the vast majority of Basques. The group had come under increasing pressure from its sympathizers to switch from a military to a purely political strategy in the quest for independence.

ETA is listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union and the United States.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/342941,ceasefire-insufficient-summary.html.