ETA begins historic ceasefire

A ceasefire that ended nearly four decades of bombings and assasinations by Basque separatist group ETA came into force today, ushering in a new era of hope for Spain.

A ceasefire that ended nearly four decades of bombings and assassinations by Basque separatist group ETA came into force today, ushering in a new era of hope for Spain.

Although ETA has called truces before, this is the first to include “permanent” in the wording.

Streets around Spain were quiet, with no celebrations reported, despite the historic nature of the cessation of violence that began after midnight.

“It is possible to overcome the conflict, here and now,” ETA said yesterday in the second of two communiques explaining its desire to use negotiations to end nearly 40 years of strife that have claimed more than 800 lives.

“It is time to make important decisions, moving from words to deeds,” ETA said in a 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 and made ETA one of Europe’s last armed militant groups.

Meanwhile the Spanish attorney general’s official confirmed it wanted prosecutors to seek the jailing of a Basque separatist leader, backtracking amid criticism for suggesting judges should perhaps go easier on him now that ETA had declared a ceasefire.

Attorney General Candido Conde-Pumpido had said last week he wanted prosecutors to call for the jailing of Arnaldo Otegi on grounds that he broke bail terms in an ETA-related case by allegedly inciting violence in a strike in the Basque region on March 9.

After ETA declared the ceasefire on Wednesday, the attorney general infuriated the conservative opposition and even raised eyebrows among the government by saying judges considering the cases of Basque politicians like Otegi should evaluate “the new circumstances” raised by the truce when deciding whether to jail them.

But yesterday, Conde-Pumpido met the chief prosecutor at the National Court in Madrid and maintained his original instructions on Otegi, who is to appear in court next Wednesday.

Otegi, leader of the banned Batasuna party, is the most prominent and visible member of the Basque pro-independence movement and considered a key figure for possible peace talks between the government and ETA.

Batasuna members have said a peace process would not be hindered even if he was jailed, but such a move would certainly anger Basque nationalists and at least complicate things.

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

But 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 wounded more than 1,500 and made further ETA killing politically unthinkable.

ETA has not staged a fatal attack since May 2003.