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Spaniards dare to hope as ETA ends armed struggle

by Reuters
Friday, 21 October 2011 14:53 GMT

* Spaniards hoping for peace after decades of Basque conflict

* Suspicions remain as ETA has broken ceasefires

* ETA's end will not affect general elections outcome

By Jonathan Gleave

MADRID, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Spaniards cautiously welcomed on Friday a statement from Basque separatist group ETA that it had ended decades of armed struggle, daring to hope that they would not see another broken ceasefire.

ETA, a clandestine group that has been weakened by hundreds of arrests and falling support, killed more than 800 people in its campaign to carve out a Basque homeland from areas of northern Spain and southern France.

"When I heard the news I checked the time so I could remember it. I served myself a glass of wine and savoured it," said Mabel Acebes, a fashion store worker in the Basque city of Bilbao.

"I know it's not all said and done but at least the end of the conflict is a lot nearer," she told Reuters.

ETA released an online video on Thursday, renouncing violence and calling for talks with the Spanish and French authorities on ending Europe's last major guerrilla conflict.

The declaration was a significant shift for ETA, and took the group far beyond the permanent ceasefire it announced in January.

Spain's ruling Socialist party, trailing badly in the polls in the run-up to a November 20 parliamentary election, described the announcement as a victory for democracy.

The centre-right Popular Party (PP), which is widely expected to dominate the vote, demanded proof of the armed guerillas' sincerity.

The Socialists are eager to declare an end to ETA while they are in government to score political points ahead of the election. But it will fall to a likely new PP government to negotiate the tricky details of the settlement including, possibly, the fate of ETA's arms caches.

"The point here is that now they must hand over their weapons and submit to justice, remembering that we owe them nothing, they are the ones with a debt to pay," PP's spokesman in the Basque regional parliament Leopoldo Barreda told Reuters.

PP leader Mariano Rajoy, Spain's likely next prime minister, was more welcoming of the ETA declaration than he has been of past ceasefire statements, signalling that the conflict may finally be drawing to an end.

POLITICAL AUTONOMY

ETA was formed in the late 1950s during the dictatorship of Francisco Franco, who suppressed Basque language and culture.

As hundreds of ETA members were thrown in prison and weapons were found and seized in recent years, ETA's political arm slowly realized the violent fight for independence was going nowhere and pressured the guerrillas to call an end.

"I think we have reached the end of ETA. We are not at all at the end of the discussion of the future of the Basque country, but we are at the end of ETA," David Bach, a political analyst at the IE business school in Madrid said.

Political leaders did not openly commit to talks with ETA on demands such as freeing or moving prisoners.

The Socialists prime ministerial candidate Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, trailing in the polls, is widely credited with having brought ETA to its knees during his time as interior minister.

But commentators said this would win him little credit with an electorate more concerned about the country's sky-high unemployment and sluggish economy.

"This (the ETA declaration) will not change the outcome of the general elections at all," said Charles Powell, history professor at CEU-San Pablo University.

Washington and Paris on Friday welcomed ETA's move.

"Yesterday's announcement ... holds out the prospect of a historic step toward peace, although there is a long road ahead to realize this promise," said Tommy Vietor, spokesman for the White House National Security Council in a statement. (Additional reporting by Iciar Reinlein, Arantza Goyoaga and Judy MacInnes; Editing by Fiona Ortiz and Andrew Heavens)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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