Basque group ETA vows to put arsenal 'out of use'

The Basque group ETA announced Saturday it would put its arsenal of weapons "out of operational use" in a first step by the considerably weakened separatist group towards an historic disarmament. More than two years after announcing a "definitive end to armed activity", the gestures by western Europe's last major violent separatist movement to officially disarm have been met with shrugs in Spain, which wants the group to disband without condition.
"The process of putting the arms under seal has begun and the ETA has committed itself to carry out the process down to the last weapon," read a statement published in the Basque newspaper Gara, dated February 24. The separatist group said the gesture would create a climate of "security" in the Basque Country and clear the way for a solution dealing with "all the consequences of the political conflict." The ETA appeared to be referring to the imprisonment of some 500 of its members in French and Spanish prisons. The group has long sought the transfer of these prisoners closer to home as a condition for negotiating its disbandment.