ETA calls for peace negotiations with Spain and France

THE violent Basque separatist group ETA yesterday called for peace negotiations with Spain and France, warning them not to miss a historic chance for peace and said its "permanent" ceasefire will go into effect just after midnight.

"It is time to make important decisions, moving from words to deeds," ETA said in a new statement handed out to Basque newspaper Gara.

The group urged the French and Spanish governments not to thwart the groundbreaking process launched by its decision to lay down arms after nearly four decades of bombings and shootings that have claimed more than 800 lives.

Much of the communiqué repeated wording contained in Wednesday's statement announcing the permanent ceasefire, a first for a group that has called truces before, only to revert to violence after peace talks failed.

"I have a certain degree of confidence that this might be the definitive one," said Jose Antonio Ardanza, a former president of the Basque region.

This time, ETA is seen as seriously weakened by wave after wave of arrests in recent years and stymied by the Islamic terror bombings of March 11, 2004 in Madrid, which killed 191 people and made further ETA killing politically unthinkable.

ETA has not staged a fatal attack since May 2003.

Both ETA statements said the Basque people had the right to decide their own future, an allusion to ETA's long-standing drive for self-determination - letting Basques choose between the status quo of being part of Spain or move toward more autonomy.

But yesterday's document mentioned for the first time "dialogue and negotiation" with the governments of Spain and France. ETA has traditionally said three regions of south-west France should be part of the independent Basque homeland it has been fighting to create.

"ETA calls on the authorities of Spain and France to respond in a positive way to the new situation and not place obstacles in the way of the democratic process," the statement said.

It did not say what issues should be negotiated.

The European Commission called the announcement "an important development" and said it was up to individual governments to decide whether to remove ETA from an EU terror blacklist.