The armed Basque separatist group Eta is expected to call a ceasefire within three months after secret, indirect negotiations with the Spanish government, according to press reports on Monday. The newspaper El Mundo quoted unnamed sources as saying that a date for a ceasefire is ”practically fixed” and only a change of heart by Eta will prevent a deal.
El Mundo said intelligence service sources told it that the talks advanced considerably in August. The Socialist government of José Luis RodrÃÂguez Zapatero will react to the announcement of a ceasefire by seeking parliamentary permission to negotiate a permanent peace agreement, it added.
The report coincided with another newspaper, El PaÃÂs, saying that the government is demanding that the outlawed Basque separatist party Batasuna put pressure on Eta to lay down its arms.
A spokesperson for Zapatero on Monday night refused to confirm or deny the reports.
”We won’t be making any comment. The government will carry on with its stated anti-terrorist policy.”
The Public Administration Minister, Jordi Sevilla, also refused to comment directly on the reports but said the government is ready to talk if it wins the support of Parliament.
”It is important that Spaniards know that this is a government that — within the Constitution, within the law and, more importantly, with the agreement and control of Parliament — wants to finish with Eta, end terrorism and normalise … the Basque country,” he told state television.
Observers said they will not be surprised if a ceasefire deal is close, but suspected it is premature to talk of a timetable.
”The vox populi is that there have been contacts,” said Julen de Madariaga, a former Eta leader who is now in a separatist party not linked to the group. ”I don’t see why anyone should start saying that there will be a ceasefire within three months. If an agreement is almost ready, it would be a mistake to start broadcasting it now.”
He added that the news might have been leaked to put pressure on one side or the other.
Four months ago, Zapatero gained preliminary permission from the Spanish Parliament to open talks with Eta if the group laid down its arms. That brought protests from the opposition People’s party and a quarter of a million people in Madrid demonstrated against it.
Government officials have constantly reiterated that Zapatero is not prepared to pay a political price for peace and will only negotiate the future of the hundreds of Eta prisoners now in Spanish jails.
Eta has called, and called off, ceasefires before, with a 1998 truce lasting 15 months. In recent months, it has given out confusing signals. In June, it called for a peace process and said it would stop attacking elected Spanish politicians. A month later, however, it said it would still target members of the government.
This summer it did not carry out its normal bombing campaign against tourism targets, provoking further speculation that it was ready to hang up its weapons. Its last attack was on July 29 when it set off two bombs beside motorways south of Madrid as millions of Spaniards set off on holiday. — Guardian Unlimited Â