The Spanish prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, said last night that yesterday’s declaration by the Basque terrorist group Eta that its ceasefire, initially declared last September, is “permanent, general, and internationally verifiable”, was “insufficient”.
He told Antena 3 TV that “there will be no dialogue with Eta. The only thing for Eta to do is to give up its weapons.”
Inevitably, Eta’s former allies in the banned Basque party Batasuna took the opposite view, proclaiming that the statement was “an historic advance”.
Batasuna is now wedded to an unarmed pursuit of Basque independence, and has been calling for a clear-cut commitment from ETA to a complete end to violence since late last September.
There were very different responses to yesterday’s statement. Some claim it represents the end of Eta’s 50-year armed campaign for Basque independence. Others dismiss it as yet another tactical move to enable the greatly weakened group to regroup and rearm.
The Spanish deputy prime minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, called a news conference immediately after the statement was issued on videotape yesterday.
He said that “this is not bad news but it is not the news for which Spanish society has been waiting. The only statement that we want to read from Eta is one that declares an irreversible and definitive end to violence.”
The current scenario in the Basque Country certainly differs from all previous peace processes there. These have always involved negotiations between Madrid, Eta and the group’s political wing, Batasuna, which is now banned.
Referring to the 2006 process, which was collapsed by an Eta bombing, Mr Rubalcaba restated yesterday that there would be no return to such discussions.
The other new departure in the Basque conflict is that Batasuna, formerly a submissive mouthpiece for Eta, has found its own voice and appears irrevocably committed to a non-violent strategy in pursuit of independence.
Mr Rubalcaba, who is also interior minister, “roundly rejected” Eta’s proposed international inspection, modelled on the process of IRA decommissioning. “In a democratic state, verification is done by the State security forces,” he said. He added that Eta’s statement had included conditions for peace that were not acceptable to the government.
However, South African peace process facilitator Brian Currin welcomed the statement as “a very important step forward”. Mr Currin has worked very hard over the last two years to bring about this ceasefire, enlisting the support of the so-called ‘Brussels group’ of international figures, including Mary Robinson, John Hume, Desmond Tutu and Frederick de Klerk.
Sinn Féin has also offered advice to Batasuna for many years. Gerry Adams yesterday called on the Spanish government to “seize this opportunity for a lasting peace”.
A referendum on self-determination in the region would be anathema not only to the current Socialist Party (PSOE) government, but much more so to the opposition Partido Popular (PP).