Madrid - The Basque separatist group, ETA, plans to announce a definitive ceasefire in May but will refuse to hand over its weapons, a Spanish television station reported yesterday.
Telecinco cited sources close to the Basque separatist movement as saying that ETA, which declared an indefinite truce last September, was ready to put a permanent end to it 30year armed struggle for independence.
In Bilbao the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, congratulated Basque leaders. "I'm glad the violence has stopped because it is no solution to problems," he told an academic conference.