ETA declares permanent ceasefire

BASQUE separatist group ETA yesterday declared a permanent ceasefire after almost four decades of bombings and shootings in Spain during its campaign for independence.

ETA said it hoped the truce, due to start tomorrow, would drive forward its desire for Basques to be recognised as a people, while Spain’s socialist government said it hoped the ceasefire would be “the beginning of the end”.

Politicians urged caution about any truce by ETA, which broke two ceasefires in the 1990s and seeks independence on territory in both northern Spain and southwest France.