Madrid - The Basque separatist guerrilla group ETA said yesterday it wanted peace and blamed Spain and France for its campaign of bloodshed. "Peace is possible, of course it is, and ETA's hand will always be open," ETA said in a statement published in two radical Basque newspapers.
ETA said it would do "everything within our power so that the conflict does not last another 20 years", but stuck to its demand of Basque self-determination.
The leader of Spain's ruling Popular Party in the Basque region, Mr Carlos Iturgaiz, said ETA's statement was "repugnant". "When it says its hand is held out, we know that its hand is loaded to continue killing," he told state radio.
ETA's statement appeared to have been prepared before the IRA, once close to ETA, began to disarm. The IRA's move prompted calls from Spanish and mainstream Basque nationalist politicians for ETA to end its armed campaign.
In its communiquΘ, ETA criticised Spain and France for rushing to back the US-led military strikes on Afghanistan.