EUSKADI TA ASKATASUNA ANNOUNCED UNILATERAL TRUCE

September 18, 1998

The Basque resistance organization Euskadi Ta Askatasuna (ETA, Basque Homeland and Freedom) announced an open-ended ceasefire, the Basque daily Euskadi Informacion reported late Wednesday.

Hooded ETA members were shown on British BBC television reading a communique to announce the truce which is to begin Friday.

ETA set no conditions on the ceasefire and left no doubt that its main goal still is to create an independent Basque state. The organization said it will suspend all armed activities indefinitely from September 18 and concentrate on maintaining its infrastructure.

The ETA communique says it would not give up its arms and retained the right to retaliate against any aggression.

The last truce by ETA in mid-1996 lasted a week without a breakthrough. The Spanish government refused to answer ETA's call for dialogue.

Pressure on the Spanish government for a peace process has been growing recently. Most Basque politicians support negotiations with ETA.

On Saturday, twenty-three political parties, labor unions and grassroots groups called for multilateral talks with ETA without conditions.

After decades of repression and "dirty wars" Spain and France have failed to isolate the Basque opposition.

Last year, the Spanish government jailed the entire leadership of the pro-independence political party Herri Batasuna for distributing a video explaining ETA's peace proposal, the Democratic Alternative. In addition, last June the government shut down a Basque newspaper and radio station.

The last attempt made by ETA to resolve the confrontation by dialogue happened in 1989 when the former Socialist government held talks with ETA. Talks, boycotted by the Basque Nationalist Party, begin in Algiers but ended after just one month when the government broke the preliminary agreement.

In 1995, contacts between ETA and the Socialists were made again through Argentine Nobel Peace laureate Adolfo Perez Esquivel. Perez Esquivel said the Spanish government had agreed to a first meeting with ETA, and to transfer the Basque political prisoners to jails in the Basque Country -- a move that would have been followed by an ETA truce. The Socialists lost the 1996 elections and contacts ended.

ETA's four-page statement announcing the truce followed the Lizarra Declaration issued on Saturday by the participants in the Ireland Forum promoted by Herri Batasuna and boycotted by Spain's ruling Popular Party (PP) and the main opposition party, the Spanish Socialist Party (PSOE).

The Lizarra Declaration was modelled on Northern Ireland's Stormont Agreement and signed by Basque nationalist parties and Spain's United Left.

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar rejected the Lizarra Declaration calling it a "mockery" and part of political maneouvering ahead of regional elections in three of the four Basque provinces in Spain next October.

The Minister of Interior Jaime Mayor Oreja had said on Monday that ETA might declare a truce to draw more votes for Herri Batasuna.

The government of Jose Maria Aznar insists it will not negotiate with ETA or Herri Batasuna until ETA renounces armed struggle.

In contradiction with his hardline stance against ETA, Aznar supports talks between the government of Colombia and the Revolutionary Armed Forces guerrilla group. The president of Colombia Andres Pastrana, who took office last month, has agreed to demilitarize part of national territory by early November to set stage for peace talks -- with no conditions, including a ceasefire.

Euskadi Ta Askatasuna has been fighting for over 30 years for an independent Basque homeland.

"Until today we have shown the world we are capable of struggling for our own aims. Therefore let us show that from here on we have the right, the will and the ability to organize our nation in the way we choose," says the ETA communique.

REACTIONS TO TRUCE BY ETA

HB spokesman Joseba Permach: He said the announcement of the truce "it's good news" but warned peace has not yet arrived in Euskal Herria. Permach has maintained that it would not be possible to solve the conflict without the participation of Spain's political parties.

Spain's Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar: "After 30 years of terrorist activity, we cannot give ETA the benefit of the doubt."

Javier Madrazo, PSOE spokesman for the Basque branch of the communist-led United Left coalition: It is "an important opportunity for peace."

Jaime Ignacio del Burgo, of the ruling Popular Party branch in Navarre: He accused ETA of trying to blackmail the government into giving in to its sovereignty demands.

PSOE spokesman Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba: He said the party leadership was studying the ETA communique, believing it offered an opportunity but also a "risk."

Jordi Pujol, leader of the Catalan party CiU: He urged the government not to pass up an opportunity for peace.

Spain's Interior Minister Jaime Mayor Oreja: "Only time will be the judge of the sincerity and authenticity" of the ETA document.

Basque professor and political analyst Ramon Zallo: "This is a change in their policy. They are changing their political tactics and strategy to arrive more gradually at their goal of sovereingty."

Begoña Lasagabaster, deputy of the Basque nationalist party Eusko Alkartasuna: It is "very positive."

Leader of the conservative Basque Nationalist Party Xabier Arzalluz: "ETA has taken a very important and not easy step..... Now it depends on us, the political and social forces, to take important and positive steps.. it's our responsibility to ensure that this initiative ends with a definite solution."

There was no immediate comment from France's president Jacques Chirac.

RELATED DOCUMENTS:
Basque Country: Attempts to Negotiate - Chronology since 1975
ETA and Spain: Talks in Algiers