Spain's government rejected a permanent ceasefire declared by the Basque rebel group ETA on Monday, saying the move was insufficient for starting talks to end decades of violence. ETA, which has killed more than 850 people in its half-century armed struggle for an independent state in northern Spain and south-west France, has been crippled by arrests and Basques' rising support for more peaceful methods.
The weakened group announced a halt to armed attacks three months ago and made the decision permanent on Monday. ETA has been under pressure from its Batasuna outlawed political wing, which wants to be legitimised to run in local elections. "ETA has decided to declare a permanent and general cease-fire which will be verifiable by the international community," the group said in an English-language statement on www.gara.net, the website of Basque regional newspaper Gara.
"This is ETA's firm commitment toward a process to achieve a lasting resolution and towards an end to the armed confrontation," the statement added. ETA has broken cease-fires several times in the past, most recently in 2006 when a truce was ended by a deadly bomb attack at Madrid's airport.
In its Monday statement, the group did not specify the mechanism of international verification, nor did it say whether it had decided to turn in weapons and explosives. Deputy Prime Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba said the declaration did not go far enough, demanding that ETA renounce violence permanently and put a definitive and irreversible end to its activities.
"The government has rejected international verification over and over again. In a country under the rule of law it's for the state security forces to verify (the ceasefire)," Rubalcaba said in a brief statement to reporters. Past cease-fires have been seen by analysts as ETA attempts to regroup with a view to launching further attacks.
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