Basque Terrorist Group ETA Calls For A Cease-Fire

ETA- the socialist Basque separatist-cum-terrorist group that has been terrorizing northern Spain and southern France for the past 40 years- has declared that they will finally cease blowing people up. Or so they say.  Apparently they were inspired to do so after the recent International Peace Conference held in Basque country. Headlined by former U.N. Secretary Kofi Annan and a bunch of Irish delegates who are more than well equipped to offer their advice, the ETA was encouraged 

"to make a public declaration of the definitive cessation of all armed action and to request talks with the governments of Spain and France to address exclusively the consequences of the conflict".

They also "urged" the French and Spanish governments to "welcome" such talks "to deal with the consequences of the conflict", if ETA decided to comply.


Missing from the conference, however, was the Spanish government and the main conservative opposition Popular Party, both of which believe another ceasefire is not enough and that ETA should simply lay down their arms and be done with it.


Apparently ETA did take all that advice to heart and on Thursday October 20, several members (masked and dressed in black) made a statement declaring ETA had ceased all its 'armed activity' and that it

".. calls upon the Spanish and French governments to open a process of direct dialogue with the aim of addressing the resolution of the consequences of the conflict and, thus, to overcome the armed confrontation. Thorough this historical declaration, Eta shows its clear, solid and definitive commitment."

Long live the free Euskal Herria! Long live Basque socialism! No rest until independence and socialism!

ETA was responsible for over 800 deaths over 4 decades, including well over 300 civilians, of course that number pales in comparison to the over 17,800 Islamist terrorist attacks since 9/11.

Read ETA's full statement here.

Sources: eitb, GuardianUK, NY Times, For now, that is. As with most terrorist groups, when demands are not met, cease-fires are broken, as ETA has done in the past.  And they do have demands, including their continued aim for Basque independence, as evidencced in the last few sentences of their 'cease-fire statement':