DATE=11/28/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SPAIN-ETA (S-L)
NUMBER=2-256591
BYLINE=GIL CARBAJAL
DATELINE=MADRID
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Spain's Basque separatists have announced the
end of their 14-month-old ceasefire. Gil Carbajal
reports from Madrid that the announcement follows a
stalemate in peace negotiations.
TEXT: The Basque pro-independence group ETA says it
is ending the ceasefire it has observed since
September 18 of last year. ETA says it is ending the
truce because the peace process had been -- in its
words -- "blocked and poisoned" by the Spanish
government and moderate Basques.
In a communique published Sunday in the Basque
newspaper "Gara", the terrorist group blamed its
decision on "repression" by the Spanish and French
governments. It also cited the failure of moderate
Basque nationalist parties to cooperate in achieving
an independent Basque state.
The ETA announcement said its commandos would receive
orders on Friday -- December 3rd -- when to resume
terrorist activity.
The end of the ETA ceasefire came as a shock to the
Basque country in the north of Spain. After more than
a year of peace, people had begun to hope for an end
to three-decades of violence that cost more than 800
lives.
// REST OPT FOR LONG //
Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar responded in a brief
statement on national radio and television that -- in
his words -- ETA is wrong to put a price on the right
of everybody to live in peace. He denied ETA's charge
that the government failed to engage in active peace
negotiations.
The head of the Basque autonomous government, Juan
Jose Ibarretxe, said ETA's decision was a step
backward for the Basque Country. Socialist opposition
leader Joaquin Alumnia said that only ETA was to blame
for the end of the ceasefire. State radio called it a
dark day for the Basque people.
ETA -- which stands for Basque Homeland and Freedom in
the Basque language -- complained that while it
honored its ceasefire, the French and Spanish
governments had continued to crack down on Basque
activists, making a number of high-profile arrests,
including that of a man alleged to be ETA's military
chief.
When ETA declared its ceasefire an influencing factor
was believed to be the truce declared in Northern
Ireland by the Irish Republican Army. Ironically, the
ETA announcement ending its ceasefire came as the I-R-
A, through its political wing Sinn Fein, moved toward
a joint governing agreement with pro-British forces in
Northern Ireland. (SIGNED)
NEB/GC/DW/RAE
28-Nov-1999 12:30 PM EDT (28-Nov-1999 1730 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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